


palingenesia

by trionfi



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Twins, F/M, Female My Unit | Byleth, Male My Unit | Byleth, Novelization, ao3 the better question is what characters AREN'T going to be in this, relationships won't be for a while though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2020-12-01 19:23:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 50,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20873507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trionfi/pseuds/trionfi
Summary: to be reborn is to live again, but it will never be the same lifetwins AU fic, novelization, canon-divergence in spades, with more Sothis and goddess nonsense. its gonna be long, folks. future dimileth (Aschere aka f!Byleth), but it might be a bit before you start noticing it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As a disclaimer, the pre-timeskip chapters will probably have a good amount of content that is basically the game. As we go along the changes will become more prominenet, but I mean. This is basically "Three Houses, the novel, but I'm driving now". Except a lot of sibling dynamics because I can.

_“Please, please. You have to save them.”_

_“You know I can only save one of them.”_

_“Please…”_

_A sharp pain. More pain. Breathing. Finally breathing. Something missing. Need the other. Need to reach them._

_“Little one, he is not-“_

_Need to reach them. Blood. There is blood on them. Now it’s gone. They are crying. Good. Good…_

_“How… did you,” vision filled with green eyes. “Are you…”_

Aschere wakes up from her strange dream, one of many that she has been having in the last several months. However, she is not in their tent. Where is she?

“My my, how curious. However did you end up in here?”

Aschere looks around, before seeing a young girl on a throne. She’s had this dream before. Though, this girl is awake for once. Her eyes look familiar…

“I don’t know where here is,” Aschere replies. The girl seems to be thinking for a moment.

“Well, first off, what are you?”

“A ghost,” Aschere replies straight-faced.

“Do not lie to me, it would do well to keep your wit in check.”

“A human, then?”

“So, a mortal?”

“I suppose? Are you not mortal?” Aschere asks back. The girl is thinking again.

“I… I don’t know. But that sounds right.” The girl gives a look of triumph, seemingly for figuring out that she is not mortal. What a strange girl. “Now, Aschere, how did you get here?”

“How do you know my name?” This seems to catch the girl off guard. Again, she is thinking.

“I’m not sure. But I’m pretty sure I should know you. Hmm… this all feels so… familiar” the girl yawns. “I think it’s time for a nap.”

And Aschere feels her consciousness being pulled back.

“Hey, wake up.” Aschere rolls over in her bedroll, trying to get away from the force repeatedly hitting her in the face. She opens her eyes to see her brother standing over her, tapping her face with his boot.

“Did you have to hit me in the face with your boot? Where has that thing been?”

“If you don’t get up soon, it’ll be up your ass. Father says we need to get moving soon, something about a possible job up in Faerghus.”

“Mmm…” Aschere sits up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Jeralt steps into the tent not a moment after.

“Byleth, is Aschere awake? Oh, I guess she is.” Jeralt looks over at his daughter, who is slow to get out of her bedroll. “Dreams again?” Aschere nods.

“The girl was awake this time.”

“Interesting,” Byleth replies, tone completely uninterested. Aschere gets up to dress, and her father and brother leave quickly after. She is a bit preoccupied thinking about the conversation she had with the girl on the throne, but when she hears commotion outside, she quickly finishes dressing.

“What’s going on?” Aschere asks her brother.

“Don’t know, father went to go check. Sounded like there was fighting in the woods.” Byleth looks like he’s about to go check, when the sound of running comes towards the camp.

“Claude, stop running!” A male voice rings through the forest.

“Idiot.” A female one soon after. Soon after, a young man wearing some kind of uniform runs out of the forest into their camp area, followed by another young man and woman. Aschere and Byleth, whom had been in battle stance with sword and axe ready for battle, can only stare at these three. They are clearly young, and the uniforms they wear denote possibly students. Also, nobility, given the visible quality. The two in the back seem ready to grab at their own weapons.

“Oh, hey!” The first one calls, the one in gold. Claude, they assume. Aschere and Byleth exchange looks at each other, before lowering their weapons.

“What are a bunch of children doing running around a forest at this hour?” Byleth says, looking over the three. The young woman huffs.

“You say that as if you are much older than us.” Byleth just shrugs. The sound of hooves follows soon after, and Jeralt rides up to the group.

“Asch, By, get ready. There are bandits in the area, and they’re close.” As his horse stops, he sees the three others. “Who are the kids?” Aschere and Byleth shrug. Jeralt looks them over again. “Wait… those uniforms… well I guess we are close to the monastery.” Sounds echo through the forest again. They are close. “All right you three, I don’t know what you are doing here, but if you’re from the Officer’s Academy, then I know those weapons aren’t just for show. If you want to see the next sunrise, then you best get ready.”

Aschere and Byleth nod, as well as the blond young man, whereas Claude looks apprehensive, and the young woman just looks annoyed. Jeralt rides ahead, leaving his children with the young nobles.

“Well, let’s get this over with,” Byleth sighs. “What are your names? So I know who to yell at when you’re about to die.”

“Dimitri.”

“Claude.”

“Edelgard.”

Aschere turns to Dimitri and Edelgard, “You two follow behind my brother, he will be taking point.” She turns to Claude. “Follow behind them, I will be in the rear before circling around once we have established where these bandits are.” Byleth nods and runs off towards the noises. It seems the bandits have made it into the village outskirts.

Jeralt can be seen in the distance, dealing with bandits, and Byleth charges in, axe at the ready. Dimitri and Edelgard find it difficult to keep up with him, his movements being erratic. But not a single bandit gets a hit on him, and the two students find themselves only dealing with bandits that make an attempt on Byleth and miss. If Byleth doesn’t strike them first. Claude decides to stay in the back, observing the manic mercenary giving Their Royal Highnesses a run for their money. He turns around to see what Aschere is doing, but she is gone. He hadn’t even heard her move. He then notices flashes of light coming from the surrounding forest. The light doesn’t seem to come from any one direction. It attacks enemies around Byleth, and never hitting him, despite Byleth’s erratic movements.

All Claude can think is that these two certainly trust each other.

“Why the hell are there mercenaries here?” A man shouting can be heard nearby, seemingly to be the leader.

“That’s the man who came after us,” Dimitri says, and Byleth charges. The man seems to have more skill than the rest of the bandits and can deflect some of Byleth’s attacks. The man seems to realize that fighting Byleth is a bad idea and moves to another target. The closest is Edelgard.

Byleth is fast, but not that fast. The man swings and Edelgard, and she attempts to block, but the man has size and strength on his side. He disarms her of her axe. Edelgard pulls her dagger, ready to attempt to attack back, when Aschere jumps from the forest to push her out of the way of the man’s swing.

She can feel the axe against her for but a moment, and then-

“Are you an idiot? Are you trying to get us killed?” Suddenly she is being yelled at. Aschere opens her eyes, to see the throne and the young girl.

“What…” Aschere has no idea what is going on. Is she dead? Is this her afterlife? “What happened?”

“You very nearly died, but I have stopped the flow of time. You may thank me whenever,” the girl says with a grin of triumph.

Aschere tilts her head in confusion. Stopped the flow of time? Is that even possible?

“So, I’m not dead.”

“Yes, you are still alive. For now.”

“How… Who are you?” Is all Aschere can ask.

“I… am Sothis. But I am also called ‘The Beginning’.” Sothis pauses. “Hmm… I wonder who called me that? Well, it is no matter.”

“Sothis?” A name she has never heard before.

“Yes. I have just remembered my name.” Aschere tilts her head again. “What? Do you think me a child who forgets her own name? Do not forget that this child saved your life!” Aschere’s eyes widen, and she bows in respect.

“Yes, thank you for saving me.”

“Well, well, you do have manners.”

“So… what now?”

“Well, time is stopped, but as soon as it begins again, the bandit’s axe will surely tear into your flesh and you will die.” Aschere stare for a moment. She’ll die?

“Can… can you reverse time, too?”

“Oh! Why didn’t I think of that? Yes, I will reverse the hands of time. It will only be by a bit, but you will know what is coming. Do try to stay alive this time. Your life is very valuable, you see. As if you die, so shall I.”

Another head tilt. “Why?”

Sothis is quiet, seemingly thinking. “I do not know. But for whatever reason, our lives are linked.” Sothis claps her hands together, before a glyph forms in front of her. “Now, go forth, she who knows both sides of time, and do not die.”

A flood of colours fills Aschere’s vision and before she knows it, she is jumping down from the tree in front of Edelgard once again. Instead of trying to get Edelgard out of the way, this time she stands her ground, parrying the axe, and knocking it out of the way with her sword. She then fires a blinding spell, disorienting the man, before finally kicking him hard out of the way. Now she can get Edelgard out of the way. Byleth reaches Aschere, and the look on his face she does not understand. She doesn’t get much time to ponder it, as she can hear some of the other bandits yelling.

“Boss, we need to leave. It’s the Knights of Seiros.”

“Shit, no one said the Knights would be here.” The man scrambles to his feet and runs off. Byleth shrugs and shoulders his axe. Jeralt rides up to the three of them, with Dimitri and Claude catching up to them soon after, and Aschere watches the expressions on the two’s faces at the sight of Byleth covered in blood. She remembers that people commonly react that way, and conjures a deluge of water over Byleth’s head, washing the blood away, before using fire and wind to dry him. He doesn’t look very pleased.

“…thanks,” Byleth says in reply, voice flat. Dimitri and Claude seem to stifle a laugh at the sight. Aschere can feel something bubbling up in her throat, but before she can figure out what it is, more voices call out of the forest.

“The Knights of Seiros are here! We’ll cut you down for terrorizing our students.”

“Uhg… of all the people,” Jeralt says as a man in white armour runs up to the group of them.

“Ah, good, the students are unharmed. And… who’s this? Captain Jeralt?”

Jeralt lets out the biggest sigh Aschere or Byleth have ever heard out of him.

“Don’t you recognize me? It’s Alois! Your old right-hand man! Well, that’s how I always thought of myself anyway.” Alois laughs.

“I see you haven’t changed a bit…” Jeralt says in response.

“Well if I haven’t changed, then you are positively timeless! Twenty years since that fire, and you don’t look like you’ve aged a day, Captain!” Alois laugh again, but Jeralt doesn’t seem too amused.

“Drop that ‘Captain’ nonsense, I’m not your Captain anymore. I’m just a wandering mercenary. Who has work to do. Good-bye, old friend.” Jeralt makes the motion to start leaving.

“Yes, yes, good-bye… Wait, that’s not right. I insist that you return with me to the monastery. Lady Rhea will be overjoyed to know you’re still alive!” Aschere can see Jeralt pinch the bridge of his nose.

“Of course, you’d be telling Rhea about me. Well, I suppose this was inevitable…”

“And you two?” Alois looks the two of them over and stops at Byleth. “Wait… Byleth?” Byleth tilts his head. “You were just a baby the last time I saw you. Disappeared along-side your old man. I guess if Jeralt survived, he would have taken you as well. And you, young miss?” Alois turns to Aschere. “Another child of the Captain?”

“Nope, just a ghost,” Aschere says with a straight-face. She can see Alois’ eyes widen for a moment, before he laughs again. “Same sense of humour as your old man. I had no idea the Captain had had a daughter as well.”

“She’s Byleth’s younger sister,” Jeralt interjects.

“Aschere.” She bows.

“Well, the two of you will come with me to the monastery as well, won’t you?”

“I guess.” Byleth replies. Aschere nods. Alois turns to Jeralt.

“Well, not going to run away, are you?”

“Even I wouldn’t dare run from the Knights of Seiros. Or Rhea.” Jeralt follows Alois, and Byleth follows behind.

_“Hmm… the Knights of Seiros. They do seem quite skilled.”_ Aschere suddenly hears. It catches her off guard for a moment, and her pulse quickens. She realizes it’s Sothis’ voice. _“Well, don’t just stand here! Get moving!”_ Aschere isn’t sure what to make of the voice in her head, but she goes to follow her father and brother. The three students have also followed them.

They are to stay in Remire until daybreak. The three students corner the Eisner siblings once in the village.

“I appreciate your help back there. Both you and your brother are certainly without question.” Edelgard starts off with towards Aschere. “And your father… he would be Jeralt, the Blade Breaker?”

“That’s certainly what people call him.” Byleth dryly replies with.

“Former Captain of the Knights of Seiros, and oft praised as the strongest knight to have ever lived.”

“Never knew he was a Knight of any kind,” Aschere replies with. Jeralt never spoke at length of his life, and neither her nor Byleth bothered to ask.

“How curious. I imagine there is a fascinating explanation as to why…” Edelgard seems to be lost in thought at that point, allowing the other two students to speak.

“I had heard tales of the Blade Breaker in childhood,” Dimitri starts with, “as well as relatively more recent stories of mercenaries under the titles of ‘The Demon of Ailell’ and ‘The Ashen Wraith’.”

“I always hated that nickname. I hate Ailell, it’s far too hot,” Byleth cuts off with. “Chere’s is more fitting.”

“Well, you know what they say, the people of Fodlan love their nicknames.” Claude says next. “The two of you are coming with us to the monastery, right? I would love to bend your ears on what kind of adventures you two’ve had.” Claude pauses, before seemingly remembering something. “Oh right, the three of us are students at the Officer’s Academy. We were doing training exercises when those bandits attacked. I definitely go the worst of it.”

“That was because you were the first to run off.” Edelgard sighs.

“Too true! I was the first to make a strategic retreat. Well, until these two followed me.”

“Is that what you were thinking? And here I thought you were acting as a decoy for the rest of us.” Dimitri cuts in.

“His intentions were as clear as day. You will prove a lacking ruler if you cannot see the truth behind a person’s words.” Edelgard remarks towards Dimitri. Byleth and Aschere turn to Dimitri at that point.

“And you will prove a lacking ruler yourself if you look for deceit behind every word and fail to trust those whom you rely on.”

“Another debate between their Royal Highnesses. Well, as the embodiment of distrust, your little exchange smacks of naivety.”

“Me? Naïve? Tell me, are you actually incapable of keeping quiet, or is your lack of self-awareness a condition of some sort?” Aschere and Byleth watch as Edelgard continues to yell at Claude. Is this how classmates are supposed to be?

Dimitri just sighs. “In any case, forgive our digression. I must speak with both of you, if you can spare a moment. The way you two worked together in combat was simply amazing. Byleth fought without a moment’s hesitation that he would be hit by any of your spells.” He turns to Aschere. “And… Aschere, correct?” She nods. “The way you held your ground and countered the bandit’s leader was captivating. You never lost control of the situation. Both of you have shown me that I still have much to learn.”

The siblings can only stare. While they have been complimented on their skills before, this level of praise is certainly new. Dimitri’s praise makes Aschere feel strange.

“Your skill is precisely why I must ask of both of you to consider lending your services to the Empire.” Edelgard interjects. “I might as well tell you now. I am no mere student. I am also the Adrestian Empire’s…”

Dimitri cuts Edelgard off. “Halt, Edelgard. Please allow me to finish my own proposition. The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus is in dire need of exceptional individuals like yourselves. Please, do consider returning to the Kingdom with me.”

“Whoa, there! You two sure are hasty. Trying to recruit people you’ve just met. Tactless, really. I was personally planning to develop a deep and lasting friendship on the way back to the monastery before begging for favours. But it seems there’s no time for niceties in this world. So, capable strangers, let’s get right to it. Where does your allegiance lie?”

Aschere just blinks at them. What are they asking?

_“How curious. It seems one’s place of birth is quite significant to them. Yet they are so impressed by you, that you may take your pick!”_ Sothis says within her mind. **_Hmm? I don’t know where I was born, though. It wouldn’t seem right to lie to them._**

Before Aschere can even answer, Byleth does so first. “We’re mercenaries. They only allegiance we have is to gold. If you want to come up with a good offer, go ahead. But do it in the morning.” Byleth walks off to the building they are staying in, leaving only Aschere with the young Lords.

_“How tactless of your brother,”_ Sothis speaks. Aschere does agree, but she feels like she must apologize for his words.

“Please forgive my brother. He means well. He has never been one to leave his opinions unvoiced, however.”

“No need to apologize,” Dimitri says back. “In fact, he reminds me of a friend of mine.” He laughs quietly.

“He did make a good point. Good mercenaries don’t have allegiances to nobles. They aren’t knights,” Claude replies with. Edelgard, however, sighs.

“Some things are more important than gold. Perhaps I can convince both you and your brother of that.” Aschere blinks at her comment, and the four bid farewell before heading the places they will rest.

As Aschere lays in her bedroll, Sothis speaks to her again.

_“My my, those three certainly were in a hurry to have you join them.” **That’s an understatement.**_ She has no idea why they were so eager, and it seems a bit unsettling to her.

_“The three of them certainly are unique.”_ Aschere agrees. Edelgard seems to be quite a refined young woman, and yet her eyes seemed to be evaluating Aschere. Dimitri seems to be quite sincere, but it feels as if there is a darkness lurking behind that. Claude’s smile is quite striking, and yet said smile never reaches his eyes.

“_Most unique. Now, then, I do believe it is time for a nap. For both of us…”_ Sothis trails off with a yawn. Daybreak it to be in an hour or two, and Aschere wishes to get in a bit more sleep before they must go to this Garreg Mach Monastery.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aschere and Byleth become instructors, and Aschere prepares a bit before the mock battle

The journey to the monastery is uneventful. No bandits attack them. Jeralt stays ahead of his children and the young Lords, chatting with Alois and the other Knights. Aschere and Byleth with the Lords.

“This is your first time at the monastery, yes?” Dimitri says, facing Aschere in particular. “I’d be happy to show you around.”

“Making a move on the young lady so soon, Dimitri?” Claude chimes in. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“Claude! I am only being polite. I would suggest you try the same sometime.” Claude just laughs. Edelgard does not join in on that conversation. Soon, the monastery is in view.

“It really is Fodlan in a nutshell,” Claude remarks. “The good and the bad.”

“Well, like it or not, we will be there soon.” Edelgard says before quickening her pace and going ahead of the others.

Upon reaching the monastery itself, the young Lords bid farewell for the time being, with Dimitri saying he would still show Aschere and Byleth around. For as for now, he needs to check in with the students of his House. Neither of the siblings know what he means by that, but they don’t bother asking. They just follow Jeralt and Alois. From the balcony overlooking the courtyard, a woman with bright hair and a flowing robe looks down upon them.

“Rhea’s here,” Jeralt comment, but neither of the siblings know who that is. This is certainly going to be an interesting trip. They are taken to the second level of a building and wait within a room. Jeralt just sighs after a point.

“It’s been years since I last set eyes on this place. To be forced to see her now…”

“Her?” Byleth asks.

“Lady Rhea. The Archbishop of the Church of Seiros. You saw her in the courtyard.”

“So, we will be meeting this Rhea?” Aschere asks next, but it cut off when two people enter the room.

“Thank you for your patience, Jeralt. My name is Seteth. I am an advisor to the Archbishop.”

“Right… Hello.” Jeralt replies flatly.

“It has been a long time, Jeralt. I wonder… was it the will of the Goddess that we have another chance meeting like this?” Rhea says next. Aschere can only think that Rhea’s voice is very calming.

“Forgive my silence all these years. Much has happened since last we spoke.”

“Yes. And I see that Byleth had also survived the fire.” She says, turning to him. Byleth doesn’t react to her words. “And I see that the miracle of fatherhood has blessed you once more. She is also your child, correct?”

“Ah, yes. This is Aschere. I would introduce you to her mother, but she passed away due to illness.”

“How unfortunate for you to lose the mothers to both of your children.” Rhea turns to both the siblings. “I have heard of both your valiant efforts from Alois. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for saving those students of the Officer’s Academy.” Aschere nods, while Byleth makes a noise of acknowledgement. They can both hear Jeralt sigh.

“Jeralt. You already know what it is I wish to say, do you not?”

“You want me to rejoin the Knight of Seiros, don’t you? I won’t say no, but…”

“Your apprehension stings. I had expected that Alois would have already asked you of this.” Jeralt glances to the side, and the siblings can tell that Alois indeed did make mention of this at some point. “I must step away for now, but I imagine the Knights will desire a word with you soon. Please listen to what they have to say. Until tomorrow… farewell.” And with that Rhea and Seteth leave, and several Knights enter the room. The siblings stay back as they speak with their father, unsure of exactly what is going to happen. If their father rejoins the Knights, what will they do? Also join the Knights? Live at the monastery? After a bit, the Knights leave, and the siblings go back to their father.

“Forced back into the Knight of Seiros, I can’t believe it.” Jeralt sighs. He turns to his children. “I’m sorry to drag both of you into this. Looks like they want your services as well.”

“For the Knights?” Byleth asks.

“No, nothing like that. From what they said, it sounds like they want you two to teach combat and strategy.”

Aschere and Byleth just stare at their father. Teach? Them? What?

“You heard those brats talking about the Officer’s Academy, right? It just so happens that they are now short a professor and think you two can fill that slot.” The siblings continue to stare. “That damned Alois is apparently the one who recommended the both of you.” Aschere just blinks in rapid succession, and Byleth just shakes his head. Whatever gave Alois the idea that they could teach? They know how to fight, yes. But teach?

Two people enter the room. A woman in a white coat and a revealing dress, and an older gentleman in a suit.

“Now, where are these two new combat professors we were told about?” The woman says as she enters the room. The siblings turn to her.

“That would be these two,” Jeralt says for them. “You two can handle it from here. Good luck.” And with that, Jeralt turns to leave, but before doing so, he leans down to whisper to his children. “And watch out for Lady Rhea. I don’t know what she is thinking making the two of you teachers at the Academy. She’s up to something. Stay on your guard.” Both nod, and Jeralt leaves the room.

“My, how young…” The woman says with apprehension.

“Competence and age are not necessarily correlated, as you well know.” Aschere isn’t sure, but it sounds like the man was insulting the woman. “I am Hanneman, a Crest scholar and professor of Reason and History at the Officers Academy. If you two are to teach tragedy to the young students, I hope my lessons of Historic battles can complement that.” Hanneman pauses for a moment. “I wonder if either of you possessed a Crest. When next you have a moment to spare, I insist that you pay me a visit so we can delve into the subject further.”

Crests? Does Aschere know what a Crest is? It sounds familiar, but she’s not sure. Byleth doesn’t respond.

“I’m Manuela,” the woman responses with next. “I’m a professor of Faith and Etiquette, a physician, a songstress…, and available. It’s nice to meet you two.” Manuela’s eyes focus on Byleth, and Aschere can see him become visibly uncomfortable.

“A songstress?” Aschere asks, wonder how that relates to the school. Also, to save her brother.

“Of course. Before I came here, I belonged to a renowned opera company. Perhaps you’ve heard of me? The Mittelfrank Opera Company’s beautiful, peerless—”

“Spare the needless chatter, please, Manuela. These two are to be our colleagues.” Hanneman turns to the two. “Now then, while we teach all the students at the Academy, there are also those who oversee one of the Academy’s three houses. It appears Lady Rhea wishes for Aschere to be one of the professors in charge of a house.” There they go, with the houses again. “I expect you have not yet been briefed on this yet?” Both siblings shake their heads.

“Do you really not know? Well, I guess I can explain it for you.” Manuela replies. “The Officer’s Academy is comprised of three houses of students, each of which is closely affiliated with its region of origin. The Black Eagle House is for students from the Adrestian Empire. Their leader is the Imperial princess, Edelgard, who is line to be the next emperor.” Is that what Edelgard was trying to tell them before Dimitri cut her off? Interesting.

“The Blue Lion House is for students of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. Their house leader this year is Prince Dimitri. He is to be the next king of Faerghus.” Hanneman explains next. Oh, so Dimitri is a prince? That certainly explains his manners.

“And lastly, there is the Golden Deer House, which is for students of the Leicester Alliance. Their House leader is Claude, the grandson and heir of Duke Riegan, the leader of the Alliance.” Manuela finishes with.

“It is certainly going to be an interesting year, what with the next emperor, king, and sovereign duke all attending.” Hanneman says.

“Hopefully not too interesting. I hope none of those little treasures cause any trouble.” Manuela comments after.”

“Well, for now, I suggest the two of you take a stroll around the academy to get your bearings. And when you have a moment, please stop by my research laboratory.”

“Yes, the old man has a point. It would be best to become acquainted with the students of the Academy. Oh, and keep in mind that I only notified the house leaders that you two are to be professors. It’s more fun that way.” Both siblings tilt their heads in unison. How is that more fun? “I’m sure Lady Rhea will give you more information tomorrow, but with that you should be good. Good luck. You’ll both need it.” And with that, both professors leave the siblings with their own confusion.

“Teachers? Us? Are they insane?” Byleth says to his sister once they are alone.

“Maybe. But it might be fun. We’ve never really been around people our own age. Though I suppose we’re a bit older than them?” Aschere pauses to think.

“We wouldn’t be making friends. We’d be teaching them. Though…” Byleth trails off for a moment. “I guess if its just teaching them combat, it shouldn’t be that much trouble. We’ve been fighting for most of our lives. And you’ve always been amazing at strategy.” Byleth pauses. “Or at least not getting us killed. Speaking of that… I swore I saw you get hit by that bandit’s axe. But… it was like I blinked, and suddenly the whole situation changed, and you threw off the man. Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Aschere stares at her brother. Wait… did everyone see the rewinding of time? No, that can’t be. Edelgard never commented on it. Nor the other. So, how does Byleth know?

“Well, it doesn’t matter, I guess. We’ve got shit to do.” Byleth sighs, his usual frown on his face. “Well, let’s go meet some whelps.”

As they are leaving the audience chamber, they run into Alois. Apparently, the person who was going to act as the Combat and Strategy teacher had run off when the young Lords has been attacked by bandits, and thus was fired from the position. Byleth glares at Alois when he talks about recommending them, but Alois seems to just laugh it off. Seteth had been talking with Alois, and simply reminds them to introduce themselves to the students.

As they are making their way down to the main area of the academy, they discuss how they are going to do this teaching thing.

“Well, I guess we’ll just focus on our strengths.” Byleth suggests. Aschere nods. “So, you can handle swords, hand-to-hand combat… uhh… something tells me Hanneman is more skilled for theoretical magic rather than combat, so you might want to teach that. Maybe healing while in battle as well.” Aschere nods. “You’ve always been better with horses, and well… Pegasus are out of the question for me.” Aschere nods again. “So, then I guess I’ll do axes, lances, bows, heavy armour combat… I guess wyverns…”

“Wyverns do like you a lot.”

“Don’t remind me,” Byleth sighs. Aschere can feel something bubble in her throat again, but it dies down after a moment. They find Edelgard rather quickly, who seems disappointed that they took a teaching job at the monastery. But perhaps happy that they will teach her? She seems hard to read. The guard at the door seems nice. Claude is the next House Leader found, who congratulates them and “properly” introduces himself. They find several of the Golden Deer students in the classroom, and they seem… interesting. They meet a girl named Leonie who seems to know Jeralt. Calls herself his apprentice. Why hadn’t they met her before, then? A few of the students make comment on how they saved Claude from bandits, but as Manuela said, none of them know about them being teachers.

“I think I remember Lorenz’s father from a job in the Alliance… hated the guy.” Byleth comments when they have left the classroom.

“Try not to let that affect your opinion of Lorenz.” Aschere responds with. Byleth just shrugs.

“As long as he doesn’t ask you to tea again.” Aschere just swats at her brother’s arm.

Dimitri is outside of the Blue Lion’s classroom and proceeds to properly introduce himself to the Eisner siblings. He also seems rather happy that they are to be professors. They go to the classroom next to see the students there, whom all seem very impressed by them for saving Dimitri. Many of them seem to be close to the Prince as well. However, a boy named Sylvain tries to hit on Aschere.

“Oof, and I thought Felix’s glare was cold,” is all Sylvain can say about Byleth’s reaction.

As they make their way to the next classroom, Aschere can hear under Byleth’s breath, “If one more guy hits on you, I swear…”. It earns him another swat on the arm.

The Black Eagles students seem normal enough, although neither of the siblings had ever met someone from Brigid before. The boy named Hubert also seems… unsettling. It’s hard to put her finger on it, but there is something about him that seems off.

Running around talking to all the students takes up a good chunk of the day, and with Rhea not to meet them until tomorrow, they decide to just look around the monastery for now. Byleth decides to go check out the training ground, as there is apparently another man who oversees said training ground. Jeritza, or something like that. Aschere, however, decides to look around the rest of the monastery instead. She finds the fishing pond, which she will have to check out later. Jeralt taught both her and Byleth how to fish, as sometimes money was tight and being able to fish and hunt meant being able to eat. But she also finds that there is a greenhouse filled with exotic flowers. Flowers have always been something Aschere enjoys, even though they are rather pointless for a mercenary. Jeralt always acted strange when she would bring flowers to show him. She never understood his reaction. She stays in the greenhouse for a while, before the boy from the Blue Lions named Dedue enters the greenhouse. Neither of them says anything to each other, but the silence is comfortable. She guesses that he likes flowers as well.

After a while, Aschere thinks she should go look for her brother. She remembers that Hanneman wanted to see if they had Crests? Or something like that. Although, she is unsure of where the training grounds are. She wanders for a while, before running into Dimitri.

“Oh, hello, Aschere. Or, forgive me, I suppose I should be referring to you as ‘Professor’.” Aschere just shakes her head.

“That’s not necessary. I’m not your professor yet, and none of the other students know that right now.”

“I see… also, this may be presumptuous of me, but… are you lost?” Aschere’s eyes widen.

“Maybe a little bit… I am looking for my brother, and I think he should still be at the training grounds.”

“Well, allow me to show you the way,” Dimitri says while giving a small bow. Aschere is unsure how she feels about the Crown Prince of Faerghus bowing to her. He seems quite sincere. Dimitri leads her to where the training ground, making light conversation of asking what she thinks of the Officer’s Academy so far. She doesn’t really have an opinion so far, but she thinks the students seem interesting. Once they get to the training grounds doorway, Dimitri says goodbye and bows again before leaving. Aschere just pauses for a moment, still bewildered by Dimitri’s behavior.

Entering the training grounds, she finds Byleth sparing with a man wearing a mask. The match seems to be quite intense, but as soon as Byleth sees Aschere, he dodges a swipe from the man, and exits the arena.

“Are you throwing the fight?”

“Sure, I don’t really care.” He turns to Aschere. “You want to spar now?” Aschere shakes her head.

“Who is that?” Aschere asks, looking at the man in the mask.

“Jeritza. Apparently, he’s in charge of the training grounds, so I guess he’s our boss.”

“I don’t particularly have interest in telling you what to do.” Jeritza says in response. “But I would like to see your strength.”

“Maybe later,” Aschere says. “Byleth, didn’t Hanneman say something about wanting to see if we have Crests?”

“Did he?”

“I think… well, we can go see him anyway.”

“I guess. Though, I don’t see why finding out if we have Crests matters.”

“Well, we are to be working with Hanneman, so why not go with his request?” Byleth just shrugs.

“Thank you for accepting my request,” Hanneman says when Aschere and Byleth go to his office.

“What do we need to do?” Aschere asks.

“It is nothing drastic, merely to put your hand over this device I designed to determine whether the power of a Crest resides within you. Won’t hurt a bit. Promise.”

“Is it important to know if we have Crests?” Aschere asks.

“Are you truly not familiar with Crests?” Aschere shakes her head, and Byleth just shrugs. It was never something they needed to know to work as mercenaries.

“Well, allow me to tell you everything—absolutely everything—about them. Is your calendar clear? This will take a while.”

“I would prefer if you got to the point.” Byleth replies with. Aschere swats at him.

“In their simplest form, Crests are power incarnate. Said to have been bestowed upon humans by the Goddess countless ages ago. They exist within the flesh, are passed down through bloodlines.”

“I think I remember father saying something about having a Crest…” Byleth trails off.

“Yes, I am familiar with Jeralt’s Major Crest of Seiros. At least, that is what the Knights of Seiros’ records said, at any rate. So, either of you could have inherited your father’s Crest. Or perhaps there is another Crest within your bloodline. Now, let me continue. Those who carry Crests may excel at magic, display exceptional strength, or any number of boons.”

“I see… Leth has always been fairly strong.”

“And Chere’s pretty good with magic.”

“I see, I see. Now, which one of you will go first?” Byleth shrugs, and steps forward. Hanneman directs him to place his hand over the purple circle on the floor. Byleth does so, and they see the shadow of his hand morph into lines.

“Ah, I see. A Major Crest of Seiros. You certainly take after your father, then. Although… how curious. The lines are blurred. I wonder what that could mean…”

“Have you not seen something like that before?” Aschere asks. Hanneman shakes his head.

“No, this is certainly a new phenomenon. But, another mystery to explore. Now, young lady, if you will.”

Aschere does as her brother did, and her shadow morphs into lines as well. But they are crossed every which way and seem too big for the sphere.

“What is this?” Hanneman exclaims, looking at the device. “A pattern I’ve never seen before… It is possible an as-yet undiscovered Crest has been detected? To think there are still Crests out there that even I am unaware of! How thrilling!”

Well, he certainly seems excited.

“Ahem… Pardon my unrestrained jubilation. The two of you have both given me new things to consider. You may leave now.” Both nod, and exit the room, hearing Hanneman mutter things about their Crests as they leave.

“Well he was… interesting…” Byleth sighs as he trails off. “And suddenly I feel exhausted… they gave us rooms in the dorms. Apparently to have us bond more with the students, since we’re close in age. I think yours is next to mine.” Aschere nods and lets Byleth lead her to their rooms.

The rooms are bare, besides a bed and a desk, as well as the small amount of clothing they own, but neither Aschere nor Byleth have ever had many possessions. Hard to collect things when you’re always on the move. Aschere says good night to her brother and pulls off her clothes to change into her night gown.

_“Certainly, an interesting day for you,”_ rings out in her head, startling her. _“Are you really so easily frightened?” **I don’t expect someone to start talking to me out of nowhere.** “Oh fine, if you would prefer to see me, then I think I can do that.”_

Sothis appears in front of her, floating near her bed.

“I guess this is okay when we are alone. But know that you are still the only one who can see and hear me, so I will not be doing this otherwise. It would not do for you to be talking to yourself out in the open.”

“I guess not…”

“What that man said about Crests… interesting, was it not? I wonder where yours came from…”

“I don’t know. Maybe my mother?”

“Hmm…” Sothis seems lost in thought, and Aschere is tired, so she just goes to lay in her bed. “Well, I’m sure you will have a busy day tomorrow, so I will let you sleep.” Aschere makes a noise of acknowledgement before rolling to her side and falling asleep.

_Her consciousness never truly leaves the World. Not when she slept. Not when her breath was stolen. Not when her body torn apart. Her heart like an eye, she watched her body cut through those of her blood. Unblinking and unmoving, timeless._

_She is given flesh again, but it is never truly hers. And so, she continues to sleep. But one vessel of flesh asks for a wish. It is perhaps selfish, to ask for life. But it is also unselfish, for she would ask not for her own life, but for her children’s. She was herself a mother. Is still a mother._

_She cannot help herself._

Aschere groans as she wakes, feeling unrested for some reason. She must have been restless as she slept. The sun is already up, not something she usually sees in the morning. Her life has been constant movement from sun up to sun down. To be able to get dressed without being nagged, and more leisurely go find food from the dining hall is nice.

A Knight finds her in the dining hall, telling her that Lady Rhea wishes to see her. This must be about which class she is going to oversee. She assumes, anyway. As she is lead to the audience chamber, she gives thought to which class she would want to oversee.

Her mind keeps jumping to how polite Dimitri is to her. A very foreign concept to her, as she spent most of her life on the whims of noble employers. Even if it feels that there is something behind that pleasant smile of his, that he would still makes the effort to be polite to her is nice.

“How are you enjoying your time at the Academy thus far?” Rhea asks her when Aschere and the other teachers are present. Seteth stands next to Rhea, silently judging Aschere. “I hope you have found our halls brimming with the vitality of well-intentioned souls.” Aschere nods. While some of the students are certainly unique, she can tell they mean well.

“Hm. I suppose it is time for you to take charge of one of our three houses of students. You will be tasked with ensuring they are receiving their required education, as well as ensuring their safety. Be sure to take this task with the utmost seriousness.” Seteth explains, tone with a harsh edge. “I must note that I am personally against entrusting someone as lacking in trackable history as yourself with such as task, but it is the archbishop’s desire.”

“Well, as you are the new professor, we will allow you to have first pick. Manuela and I will choose of the other two.” Hanneman offers. Aschere nods and gives it one more thought before making her decision. While Claude does seem nice, she is worried about keeping track of everyone in that class. Edelgard’s judging eyes leaves her unsettled.

“I’ll choose the Blue Lion House.” Aschere decides after a moment.

“Oh… I see.” Hanneman says in response.

“You sound disappointed…” Aschere responds back.

“I cannot say that I am not. The Blue Lion House this year has many students possessing Crests that I have not had much experience studying.”

“Oh, don’t be like that. Here, I’ll let you take the Golden Deer house, since you’re always going on about wanting to study Crests from outside the Empire.” Manuela teases back. “I don’t mind taking the Black Eagles, a young protegee of mine from Mittelfrank is attending this year, and I would enjoy seeing her again.”

“You have made your choice, then. All I ask is that you guide these open minds with virtue, care, and sincerity.” Aschere nods to Rhea.

“They are all promising youths who bear the weight of Fodlan’s future upon their shoulders. I hope you appreciate what an honour it is to lead them.” Before Aschere can respond to Seteth, a young girl’s voice cuts her off.

“Brother? Oh! I am so sincerely sorry! I did not mean to interrupt.”

“I am in the middle of something, Flayn. Is it urgent?”

“No, no, it’s nothing. More importantly… Who is this?”

“This is our newest professor at the Academy. She and her brother are to be weapons instructors, with Aschere here leading one of the Houses.” Seteth explains to his sister.

“Oh my! A new addition to the Officers Academy! I am very pleased to meet you, Aschere.” Aschere nods to Flayn. “I am Seteth’s little sister, Flayn. I am so happy to make your acquaintance.”

“Likewise. You will have to meet my brother… he’ll probably be at the training grounds again.”

“Oh! I will go and see if I can find him right away!” Flayn replies enthusiastically. Seteth clears his throat, returning attention to him.

“Let us return to the topic at hand. There is something that you should be aware of. In a few days’ time, there will be a mock battle between the three houses. It will be to both gauge the present progress of the students, as well as your own. Please do not disappoint the archbishop. That is all.”

“Oh my, being thrown head first into it, aren’t we, Aschere.” Manuela teases.

“We will look forward to see your skills on the battlefield, Professor.” Hanneman says to Aschere, before they are all dismissed. Apparently, her new class is expecting her.

Entering the classroom, several heads turn to see who is entering. Aschere walks up to the front, standing behind the professor’s desk. The look of shock is clear on many faces.

“Wait! Does this mean our new professor is… No, I really can’t believe it! But I was speaking to you so casually, as though we were companions! I thought you were going to be a new student!” The red-haired girl… Annette, Aschere thinks that is her name, is the first one to speak up. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Professor! You just look the same age as the rest of us, and… Oh, and I’m sorry I just said that too! I really must watch my tongue.”

Aschere shakes her head. “I doubt I am much older than any of you here. I don’t mind if you treat me informally.” Aschere pauses for a moment. “I’m just as surprised about becoming a professor as you are.”

“You say that, but… I just don’t know about all of this. And what about the other man who was with you when you were visiting the classroom yesterday? Is he a professor too?” Aschere nods.

“Yes. He’s my brother, Byleth. He’s to be a weapons instructor, as I am. He’s not in charge of a class, however. He’d probably also prefer you to treat him informally as well.”

“If I may, treating you in such a manner doesn’t sit well with me either.” Dimitri replies with. “After all, we wish to show you due respect.”

“Sure, but if the professor says it’s OK, shouldn’t that be enough? That is… if Your Highness can consent to such a thing.” The red-headed boy sitting near Dimitri comments, a smirk on his face. Aschere searches her mind for his name… Sylvain…? “After all, we’re already speaking this way to our future king, so we may as well relax our speech with our professor too, right?”

“Well, we’re not in the Kingdom, so it only goes to follow that we should all speak companionable… not to mention we are all students of the same Academy. It only makes sense that I be treated as everyone else is… but I’ll concede. If the professor says it’s fine, we ought to accept that kindness gratefully.”

Aschere nods. “You can just call me ‘Aschere’. I don’t mind.”

“What a lovely name!” A young woman with her long hair in a ponytail to the side of her head, says. Uhm… Mercedes. Yes, she thinks that’s her name.

“As for me, I’m not sure I can manage…” The blond girl with the braid responds. Ingrid…?

_“You really have a bad memory, don’t you?”_ Aschere nearly jumps out of her skin. **_Don’t just talk out of nowhere like that!_**_ “Oh, boo. If you want me to remind you on names, I can do that.”_

“You don’t have to force yourself if it’s too difficult. You’re fine with that too, right, Aschere?” Aschere nods.

“Such benevolence is a sight to behold! I don’t suppose you would care to join me for tea? We could discuss education… and marriage.” Aschere stares blankly at Sylvain for a moment, hearing snickering in the back of her head. Well, at least someone is amused.

“Sylvain, correct?”

“I always love it when a pretty girl remembers my name.”

“What weapon do you primarily train in?”

“Hmm? Spear. Why?”

“I see… that means Byleth will be teaching you. Do keep that in mind when you wish to make more remarks like that.” She can see Sylvain’s face fall immediately.

The dark-hair young man lets out a bark of a laugh at that. “Maybe that will teach you to hold your tongue. Tell me, professor, who is the one teaching sword?”

“I will be.”

“Then I will look forward to that. You will show me what you are capable of.”

_“That one’s named Felix.”_

“You aren’t wasting any time, are you, Felix?” Dimitri responds.

_“I already said his name! You don’t have to tell her too!”_ Aschere can feel that strange feeling bubbling in her throat again but swallows it down.

“As it were, count me in for any such battle.” Felix just scoffs at Dimitri.

“Pardon me, but I would also love to observe you in battle, for future reference. If that’s OK with you…”

_“Ashe!”_

“Ashe, I won’t have you speak of merely watching. You should join in as well.”

_“Stop that, I’m trying to help!”_ Aschere can hear the pout in Sothis’ voice.

“If you get injured, simply say the word and I’ll patch you up straight away!” Mercedes offers. After a beat, she seems to realize something, but the expression on her face. “Oh! I wonder if there are people that refer to Aschere as ‘Asch’ as well. I hope it doesn’t get too confusing.”

“My father calls me that sometimes, but my brother always just calls me ‘Chere’. So, if you want to shorten my name, just use that.” Aschere responds with. Mercedes nods.

“Your Highness. Do take care not to go overboard.” Dedue says to him. Aschere waits to see if Sothis will try to say Dedue’s name before Dimitri can say it. She doesn’t. Well, Aschere already remembered his name due to seeing him in the greenhouse yesterday.

“You worry too much, Dedue. I’ll be fine. I promise.”

“My companions! Is there not something inherently wrong with crossing blades to bond with each other?” Sylvain comments.

“Huh, I never thought of it that way. Does that mean you’re going to stay behind while the rest of us are at the training ground?” Ingrid remarks back.

“Ingrid, please. You really are too harsh on me.”

“Only because you deserve it.” Felix says dryly.

“Well then, Professor? As you can see, the Blue Lion House is a lively bunch, but you’ll find none who work harder.” Dimitri says to her. Aschere nods. She has certainly gotten a good insight into the young nobles’ personalities. Reminds her of being with the mercenaries, although everyone here is far more polite… well, Felix more feels like most mercenaries she knew. And Sylvain’s comments are… familiar as well. At least until Byleth gets a hold of him.

“I’m certain we’ll cause our fair share of trouble, but I’m very much looking forward to the year ahead.” Dimitri finishes with.

“Likewise.”

“Now, I believe the Blue Lion slot for the training ground is not for another hour, so what shall you have us do until then, Professor?” Dimitri asks Aschere. Aschere blinks in confusion for a moment, before thinking. She is unsure.

“If you are unsure, perhaps you can tell us a little about yourself?” Mercedes offers. Other nod at her suggestion.

“Oh? I don’t think I’m that interesting, but if you want…”

“I’m sure stories from a mercenary are way more interesting than anything these guys could come up with,” Felix remarks, and earns a glare from Ingrid for sounding rude. Aschere brings her hand to the side of her face in thought, thinking about what she could say about herself. She really can’t think of much.

“I do have stories from mercenary work, but if you want to know about me, I’m afraid you wouldn’t get much from those. Hmm…”

“How long have were you a mercenary, Professor?” Ingrid asks.

“I think around ten years?” It’s been a while since she and her brother started joining their father in work.

“Wait… how old are you?” Annette asks in shock.

“I… I don’t know.” That earns her wide eyes from everyone.

“You don’t know?” Ashe says incredulously. Aschere just shakes her head.

“When is your birthday?” Annette asks. Aschere stares for a moment. “Wait… you don’t know that either?” Aschere is frozen for a moment. Birthdays are the day you were born… but her father never really told her or her brother much about things like that. They learned what they needed to survive. She remembers that lots of people do celebrate their birthday, but it was never something she gave thought to. But, for some reason, she wants to feel normal.

_“Oh, oh! You can use my birthday if you want!”_ **_You have a birthday?_**_ “Of course I do, who doesn’t have a birthday? I can at least remember that.” **Alright, what day is it?** “20th of the Blue Sea Moon”_

“20th of the Blue Sea Moon. That’s my birthday,” she finally responds. The students still seem confused by her answer. “It took a moment to remember. I’ve never really celebrated it.”

“I suppose we’ll just have to remember it for you,” Annette says cheerfully.

“That would be nice. But you don’t have to celebrate it or anything.” Aschere assures them.

_“I’ll remind you.” **I’m sure you will.**_

The Blue Lion students continue to ask her questions about her mercenary life. Many of Dimitri’s questions were related to if she had done jobs in the Kingdom, and her opinions on the Kingdom. Annette asks her what her favourite food it, which apparently Ashe also wanted to know. It takes her far too long to answer that because she doesn’t often get to choose her food. She decides eventually that she likes sweet and spicy things and likes eating fish. She can see Dedue nodding at her answer. Felix asks how many battles she’s been in, something she doesn’t have an answer for, as she doesn’t remember every job she’s done. Mercedes is unsure what to ask, so she just asks what Aschere’s favourite colour is.

“Green.”

Sylvain asks if she’s ever had a boyfriend before. That earns him a smack on the back of the head from Ingrid. Ingrid ends up asking about any jobs she’s done that she would have considered difficult and how she got through them, and the answer takes up the rest of the hour. It ends up becoming an impromptu lesson on battle tactics and dealing with unexpected situations.

Once they finally get to the training grounds, Byleth runs up to Aschere.

“Finally, I’ve been so bored. Jeritza went off to who knows where. I’ve just been going over the weapons inventory. Someone fight me.” She can hear laughter behind her.

“I’m sure Dimitri and Sylvain will oblige you.” Byleth tilts his head, and Aschere points to Sylvain. Byleth’s eyes narrow towards him, and Aschere assumes he remembers Sylvain hitting on her yesterday. Byleth offers to take them on two versus one. Dimitri seems apprehensive to that, but Sylvain seems eager. Aschere just shakes her head. Mercedes and Ashe are going to practice their Archery skills for the time being, because Felix makes it very clear that he wants to spar with Aschere. Dedue, Ingrid, and Annette go to observe the matches from the sidelines.

“I want to experience your skills for myself,” Felix says to her as they take up training swords. “Don’t you dare hold back against me.”

“Very well. Are you certain you don’t wish to handicap myself?”

“Don’t mock me.” Oh dear. Felix charges at her, although he does duck to the side, expecting to be parried from the front. Smart, she will give him that. She jumps back to dodge the sword and swipes up to knock his sword up. He doesn’t let go of it, but that matters little as she uses her free hand to immediately punch him in the gut. Felix doubles over, and Aschere puts her sword to his neck.

“Dead.” Aschere glances over, seeing Annette clapping and Ingrid nodding. Aschere reaches out a hand to him, and he reluctantly takes it. “You are used to opponents who adhere to the code of honour in battle, yes?” Felix doesn’t answer, but his eyes glance to the side. “I’m sure you are aware that you can’t expect that of all opponents. Now, again.”

Aschere goes into stance again, and Felix does as well, although it is still obvious that he is still recovering from being punched. Well, he did say he didn’t want her going easy on him. Aschere attacks first, letting him parry and counter-attack. Aschere doesn’t attack back immediately, but she does see Felix quickly maneuver so she can’t hit him again. She almost feels bad for her next move, but it’s what he wanted. She fires off a spell. He dodges away from it, but the spell wasn’t meant to hit him, and fires off a bright light. Felix staggers back, blinded, and Aschere just puts her hand on his shoulder. He swats it away. He gets the point.

While that battle was going on, adjacent to them is Byleth, Dimitri, and Sylvain. While Dimitri and Sylvain are both using lances, Byleth sticks with an axe. The lack of reach seems to matter little to him, as he parries nearly every one of the attacks coming at him. Dimitri can stagger him slightly with blows, but its not enough to knock him out of stance, and Byleth is able to dodge Sylvain without much trouble at all. Sylvain may be fast, but Byleth moves with a fluidity that seems not possible for a person, and effectively bends around his stabs and swipes. Realizing Dimitri’s strength, he decides to use that against him. Using his axe as a hook, he hooks around the shaft of Dimitri’s spear, between where his hands are gripping, and pulls him forward. Dimitri doesn’t lose grip of his spear, but he does stumble forward, to which Byleth ducks down and forward, rolling through Dimitri’s legs. It causes Dimitri to fully fall forward, tripping over Byleth, and barreling right into Sylvain. The match ends with Sylvain being crushed by Dimitri. Byleth shoulders his axe, watching as Dimitri apologizes for knocking Sylvain down and winding him. Sylvain laughs it off, but looking at him for a moment, Byleth then turns around and goes to where Aschere is still sparring with Felix.

Aschere stopped using magic against Felix now, and has gone to a straight sword match. Byleth shoves his axe between the two of them, stopping both their training swords. Aschere turns to her brother, tilting her head. Felix is visibly annoyed. Byleth just points behind himself with his thumb.

“Check Sylvain, he was holding his side awkwardly.” This gets Aschere’s attention, but also Mercedes, who drops her bow to run over to Sylvain to check on him. Aschere goes over to Sylvain and places her hand on his side.

“Getting handsy, aren’t we, Professor?”

“It’s not broken. Just cracked.” She closes her eyes more, concentrating. “It’s not that bad, though.”

“You can tell the difference, Aschere?” Mercedes asks, curious. Aschere nods.

“You can put a small amount of white magic to a bone, and if you concentrate hard enough you can feel the difference. A break would have the flow momentarily cut off between your fingers, a crack is just a dip in the energy.”

“I knew that about breaks, but not about cracks.”

“Here, you try.”

Mercedes puts her hand on Sylvain’s side as well, trying to concentrate on the flow of white magic between her fingers. Sylvain doesn’t seem too annoyed being used as an example, but he does earn looks of disapproval from Dimitri and Ingrid. At any rate, Mercedes heals the fracture soon afterwards, and Sylvain is no worse for wear.

In the meanwhile, Felix had challenged Byleth to a duel as well, and Byleth had switched to a lance for said duel. Byleth spends most of the duel just dodging Felix’s strikes, and attempting to trip him with his lance. Felix doesn’t fall for that tactic, but Byleth is amused by how often Felix can dodge it so he keeps doing it. Once Byleth gets bored of fighting Felix, he asks how Felix predicted his lance so well. Apparently, Sylvain used to do the same thing when he and Felix were younger. Byleth shrugs and goes to spar with Dedue.

The rest of the training slot has Byleth doing lance training with Dimitri, Sylvain, and Ingrid while also sparring with Dedue, whom Byleth decides he likes sparring with because Dedue doesn’t do wasteful movements and has a strong stance. Aschere goes to doing bow training with Ashe and Mercedes and trying to do some combat magic training with Annette but finds it not effective to try to multitask while teaching magic. Felix spends the rest of the slot training on his own. Aschere expects him to challenge her to another duel later. Maybe tomorrow.

The weapon training block last for three hours, and then the students are given an hour to rest before the rest of the day’s lessons. Aschere and Byleth are given freedom over how they want to break up the training schedules, but they are to handle each class twice a week, with the end of the week being their day off. They decide that they will do physical training earlier in the week, and then later in the week will be riding and heavy armour training, as well as Aschere’s required lectures on battle tactics. Aschere is unsure on that part of her requirements. While, yes, she has led her father’s mercenaries in battle, a group of mercenaries doesn’t really compare to an army. She asks Hanneman about it, since he teaches historical battles. As he explains, while the students learning how historical battles occurred is important, and why they happened in the way they did, it is also important for the students to be able to analysis battles to determine how they could have gone differently. And determine how to apply these to battles in their future. And this is where Aschere’s own experience in battle will aid her.

Well at any rate, she doesn’t have to do these lectures until the next week. After the mock battle. Byleth takes battle training for the other two classes pending the mock battle, saying he doesn’t want anyone to accuse Aschere of having an unfair advantage of knowing the skill level of the other students. However, as Byleth is rather useless at magic, Aschere still does battle magic training in the courtyard.

The second day of her being a teacher has doing magic training with students of the Golden Deer, while Byleth handles weapons training in the training grounds. Three students go with her to the courtyard. Lorenz, Marianne, and Lysithea. Apparently, Lorenz only went with Aschere as to get away from Claude. He had previously attended the Academy of Magic in Fhirdiad in the Kingdom. Lysithea is clearly very skilled in magic but has not trained in White Magic at all. Marianne is the opposite, having always focused on White Magic and never on Black Magic. Aschere suggests that they try training in the other magic. While Lysithea is receptive of the suggestion, Marianne is quiet and suggests that she would just fail at it. Thus, most of the training period is spent trying to convince Marianne that she can learn Black Magic just fine.

The next day is with the Black Eagles. Those who are focusing on magic are Hubert, Linhardt, and Dorothea. Aschere would sum up her experience with these three as “challenging”. Hubert does not trust her at all and does most of his training on his own. He only went with the others because it is against Academy rules to be practicing magic without supervision. Something tells Aschere that he might break this rule anyway. Linhardt doesn’t see very interested in practicing… or staying awake. The only one who listens to her is Dorothea, but Aschere can tell that Dorothea is apprehensive about her. Aschere does not know why.

She gets a day off before the mock battle, and all she can think is she hopes it gets easier to interact with the students going forward. This is the most she has ever interacted with people close to herself in age. Asking Byleth how he faired with the other students, he just shrugs. Among the Golden Deer, his assessment of them is: Claude should spend more time thinking of battle strategies over trying to sabotage the other classes (“We should probably tell the dining hall staff about him possibly poisoning food there.” “What?”), Hilda puts too much effort in not putting in effort, Raphael is eager but puts too much stock into brute strength over skill, Ignatz’s mind seems to wander and Byleth isn’t sure why he’s in the Officers Academy, and if Leonie mentions their father again, he may scream.

As for the Black Eagles: Edelgard’s mistrust of him interferes with trying to teach her, Ferdinand only cared for trying to outdo Edelgard, Caspar is extremely eager and was fun to spar with, as was Petra, even if she misunderstood him at times. Apparently, there is supposed to be a girl named Bernadetta in the class, but she didn’t show up. Edelgard had gone to fetch her at a point, but Bernadetta refused to leave her room. They will have to work on that.

Aschere is unsure of what to do with the day. When she does the morning attendance, she asks the class what they want to do. A good portion seem to want the day to just be a free day.

“Should we not go over battle tactics before the mock battle?” Dimitri suggests.

“Oh, come on, Dimitri. Do you really want to spend a free day being lectured?” Sylvain whines.

“You just want to go into town and find a new girl to flirt with,” Felix says in return.

“Always so perceptive of me.”

“Sylvain!” Ingrid shouts from the other side of the room, shaking her head. “I, for one, would like to go over battle tactics as well.”

“Thank you, Ingrid. While I am sure the mock battle will be an except learning experience in itself… What is the point of competition if the aim isn’t to win?” Dimitri says for his reasoning. Several other students nod.

“We should all try out best, regardless if we want to win or not.” Mercedes says with a nod.

“Yeah! We need to show the other Houses that Blue Lions is best!” Annette says with enthusiasm, before realizing how loud she was, and turning her gaze down in embarrassment.

Aschere stares, blinking, for a moment, before asking the class, “Well, I suppose I can go over strategy for an hour or two. And then you can have the rest of the day free. Is that alright?” Most in the class nod, and while Sylvain sighs he resigns himself to the lecture.

“For someone who complained about having a lecture today, you certainly got heated in debate with Ingrid about cavalry placement,” Dimitri comments to Sylvain once the lecture is over.

“Yeah, well you know me: I never do things half way. Also, if I let Ingrid be right without a fight, I’d never hear the end of it.”

“You were still wrong, though.” Ingrid replies with. Sylvain just shrugs. Felix leaves without saying a word, off in the direction of the training grounds. Ashe says he is going to library to read up more on tactics (and maybe other things), while Mercedes and Annette go to the dining hall.

Aschere watches as the Blue Lions leave the classroom, and now must decide what she is going to do for the rest of the day. The only thing she can really think of that she wants to do that isn’t checking on her brother is going to the greenhouse again. Well, she’ll go check on Byleth later. If she doesn’t, he’ll complain about it. Probably.

The greenhouse is quiet, as its empty other than the usual caretaker. Aschere offers to water the plants for her, which the caretaker accepts. Thus, Aschere is left alone. There is a book indicating what plants needs how much water, which she goes over while going from plant to plant. While going over the book, she doesn’t pay attention to her surroundings and runs into something on accident, sending her to the ground.

As it turns out, the something was a someone.

“Hello, Dedue,” Aschere says as he holds out his hand to help her out.

“Hello, Professor.” He takes notice of the watering can she had dropped. Silently, he picks it up, and goes to refill it. Aschere stands awkwardly while he does so. She nods when he gives it back to her. “Those plants in the corner do not need watering. They prefer dry soil.” She nods again at his instruction.

Dedue helps with watering and tending to the plants, and after a while, Aschere asks him something.

“Those plants in the corner… they are from Duscar, correct?”

“Yes.”

There is silence for a bit, before Dedue speaks again.

“I am also from Duscar.” Aschere nods. More silence. “It would be best if you weren’t seen speaking to me.”

Aschere tilts her head in question, “Why not?”

“The people of Duscar are not seen favourably.”

“I don’t care what other people think.” She can see Dedue’s eyes widen for a moment. He says nothing more for the time he is in the greenhouse but bows to her as he leaves. Aschere isn’t sure what to think of the exchange. She knows about what happened in Duscar. However, that has nothing to do with her. If anyone should care, it would be Dimitri. Clearly, the Prince doesn’t.

Aschere decides it’s time to go see what her brother is doing, and finds him not at the training grounds, but near the greenhouse at the fishing pond.

“Hello.” Aschere calls out. He turns to her, nodding in acknowledgement, before turning back to the pond and his fishing rod. Aschere goes and sits next to him, taking her boots off so she can dip her toes in the water.

“You’ll scare the fish away with the smell.” Aschere can see the corners of his mouth turn upward, slightly, and she just sticks her tongue out at him before lightly kicking the water with her toes.

“Good luck with the mock battle, tomorrow.” Byleth says after a moment. “Not that you’ll need it. If the whelps listen to you, you should win with without much trouble.”

“Shame on you, thinking so lowly of our colleagues.”

Byleth shrugs. “I doubt they’ve seen much real combat.”

Aschere stares up at the clouds passing by, humming in thought. “Who knows.”

They sit in silence for a bit, with Byleth catching one fish (though he throws it back), before Byleth speaks again.

“Has Hanneman asked you for a blood sample?”

“No. Did he ask you for one?” Byleth nods.

“He’ll probably ask you next.”

“Probably. Did you give him blood?”

“…yes. I wanted him to leave me alone.”

“Maybe I’ll just give him a blood sample the next time I’m on my monthlies.” Byleth grimaces at Aschere’s words.

“You should watch yourself when you say stuff like that. I know you’re joking, you know your joking, father knows your joking, but most people won’t.” Aschere just shrugs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i might have gone a little overboard with class introductions OOPS


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mock battle time

“It is finally time for the mock battle. I’m eager to put my skills to use, and to see how you will lead us on the battlefield. How are you feeling, Professor?” Dimitri asks Aschere the morning of the battle.

“I’m looking forward to it,” she replies. She can see Dimitri’s face light up in a smile.

“Excellent. I have high expectations for your command. That said, I’ve no doubt it will take everything we’ve got to pull a victory. Our opponents are mighty, that much is certain. But I’m positive we can win.”

“As long as you listen to Chere, you won’t have an issue,” Byleth says to Dimitri. Byleth is to watch the mock battle with Jeralt. Byleth glances over, seeing Claude standing near a pillar. He’d almost think Claude was trying to hide, if it wasn’t such a poor excuse for it. Claude notices Byleth looks at him, and walks up to Dimitri, with Edelgard soon joining them.

“Hey there! Did we miss our invite to the strategy meeting?”

“Nice try, Claude, but I do not intend to let slip our strategies. Especially when we are up against such strong opponents as you two.” Aschere is watching the exchange, noticing how polite Dimitri is to the other House leaders, even if they are to be competing.

Claude takes note of that as well. “Well now! Kind words from his kingliness. If that’s the case, we’d better come up with some clever schemes so as not to disappoint. Right, princess?”

“Right. No matter the tactics you devise, the Black Eagles will surely destroy you. The best you can hope for is to learn a thing or two.” Edelgard’s attitude towards the other House Leaders is a stark difference from Dimitri’s.

Dimitri laughs. “There’s nothing wrong with a friendly rivalry, but let’s not get carried away. A rash attitude could be your undoing, after all.”

“Hmm… Perhaps your time would be better spent preparing instead of worrying about the competition’s mindset.”

Claude interjects. “Hey, now! If you two are getting this fired up before the battle even starts… it’ll make it that much easier for my class to sweep up a win. So please, carry on.”

Aschere can see Dimitri’s face flush slightly. “A good point, Claude. I apologize—that wasn’t my intention. At any rate, let’s vow to make this a productive battle, shall we?” The other House leaders nod.

“I don’t intend to lose. It would look bad on my part.” Aschere says in response. This battle is to be an evaluation of her skills as well.

“Well, I certainly won’t be holding back,” Edelgard says in response. Aschere is called by the other professors and excuses herself from the House leaders.

The meeting before the mock battle goes over the rules of the mock battle. The professors are to lead their students, each House having their House leader plus three other students. If you are hit three times, you are out. The last standing House will be declared the winner. Aschere can see Byleth grinning. She knows what he is thinking. Aschere has always had a high command of White Magic and has been able to create shields from a young age. Aschere does not intent to let that skill be made known unless necessary.

It is up to Aschere to decide which of her students she will bring for the mock battle besides Dimitri. As this is a battle in which being hit means you lose, those who are fast and can hit at range seem preferable. Thinking about it, she decides Felix, Ashe, and Annette would be the best choices to go along. Annette seems apprehensive about using magic in a mock battle, as it would require having magic be both very visible (so you can tell that you were hit), but weak enough to not cause notable damage. Aschere assure her that she will be fine.

The battle takes place in a clearing in the forest outside the main grounds of the monastery. Each of the houses have a “base” they are to start at. The Golden Deer’s base is mostly in the woods, and Aschere assume that Claude will be hiding among the trees. The Black Eagles seem to be more out in the open, and she can already see Edelgard in the distance.

“If we go after the Black Eagles first, it will lead to the Golden Deer circling around and pinning us.” Aschere says when the signal is given.

“What will you have us do, Professor?” Dimitri asks.

“As long as the Professor is giving the orders, I guess I’ll go along.” Felix says, begrudgingly.

“I’m sure if we listen to the Professor, everything will go okay!” Annette says, and Ashe nods in agreement.

“Let’s go through the forest. We will have to watch out for Claude’s arrows, though. Be on your guard.” Aschere says as the students follow. As they make for the forest, Aschere can hear Lorenz shouting in the distance.

“None of your shallow tactics are required, Claude. Ignatz and I will dismantle the opposition.”

“Me?! But I’m not ready.”

Aschere can’t hear if Claude responds to them, but she takes it as Lorenz is coming their way.

“Ashe, Annette. Be ready to fire at Lorenz when he comes. I am going to assume he is charging in, judging from the shouting. What Aschere did not expect was seeing Dorothea attacking Felix. He dodges without much issue, and Aschere orders Ashe and Annette to counter attack at Dorothea. Felix gets a hit in on her as his counter attack, and it staggers her, so she is open to attack from both Ashe and Annette. One down.

Aschere orders Dimitri to meet Lorenz head on, because Ignatz is also a threat to deal with. Aschere ends up cutting an arrow from the air, and it lets her know where to look, seeing Ignatz coming from behind a tree. Aschere sends Felix after Ignatz, who is in no position to counter after having just fired an arrow. Two down. Aschere sees Dimitri deal with Lorenz, who proceeds to complain about it. Three down.

Aschere leads them into the forest, unused to being at the head of a group. Usually Byleth would take that role, with Aschere staying in the shadows. But, she is to lead her class, so she will manage it. Aschere goes ahead of her students however, to scout ahead. She can hear talking.

“That Lorenz, charging in like that. Serves him right, getting eliminated so quickly.”

“You say that, Hilda, but that does put us on the losing side.”

“I don’t really care if we win or anything. Honestly, I’d rather just go back to the Academy.”

Aschere hears a sigh, and then the talking stops. Claude must have gone back to looking out for other students. Aschere circles back, telling her students that Hilda and Claude at up ahead. If the Black Eagles decide to attack now, it might put them in a bad position, but it would pincer the Golden Deer. Aschere has Felix distract Claude, as he is the nimblest, and then go around the trees to surprise them from behind. Although, during their attack, Aschere can only wonder where Hanneman is.

She gets her answer from magic coming her way. She is able to roll out of the way and behind a tree. Instructing her students to continue their attack, Aschere decides to be the distraction against Hanneman. Ducking between trees, she can fire off White Magic towards Hanneman, but not to hit him, but to keep him from knowing her immediate position. As it takes a second before her magic fires off, she can move before he can see where it is coming from. While he is focused on one direction, she bolts out of the trees towards him, getting to him before he can react, and tapping him three times with her sword.

Looking back, she can see Claude holding his hands up in surrender at Felix, and Dimitri shaking his head over Hilda just sitting on the ground. Aschere is guessing Hilda didn’t put up much of a fight.

“Well, well. Against a Professor with actual combat experience, I was rather useless, now wasn’t I?” Aschere shrugs. The battle isn’t over yet. From the position she is at, she can see where Manuela is, as well as Edelgard. They should be able to see her as well, so they should know that the Golden Deer have been eliminated. They will be on their guard.

Aschere can hear someone shouting at her students on the edge of the forest.

“Well, I see you have beaten me to defeating the Golden Deer. But, I, Ferdinand von Aegir, will still claim victory today!”

“Uhh… don’t you mean the Black Eagles?” Annette asks.

Ferdinand doesn’t seem to respond to Annette, for he is too busy charging after Dimitri. Aschere can remember what Byleth said of Ferdinand, that he only cares for trying to outdo Edelgard. That means its likely Ferdinand ran ahead.

Ferdinand attacking Dimitri first was a blatant mistake, as Dimitri easily parries him and counters. Ferdinand seems stunned at how easily Dimitri deflected his attack, and it left wide open to attack from Ashe and Annette. Two students, and Manuela left.

“Do not take Edelgard lightly, she will not go down easily,” Aschere can hear Dimitri say. She is inclined to agree. She can vaguely remember how Claude and Edelgard fought when they first met. At the edge of the forest, she can see Edelgard in the distance, but not Hubert. She doesn’t want to send any of the students forward until she knows where Hubert is.

_“Hey, look out!”_ Aschere can hear Sothis call out in her head and turns around to see a ball of Dark Magic barrelling towards her. She instinctively puts up a shield to block it, and she can feel the magic hitting it. Hubert was certainly not holding back.

“Hmm… I was not expecting you to be able to shield so quickly. I was quite certain I was silent.”

“For a mock battle, that certainly felt like a full Miasma.” Aschere flatly responds. Hubert does not reply. Aschere charges forward, sword in hand at Hubert. She can see Dimitri running towards her to aid her. As the element of surprise was lost to him, and Edelgard is too far to back him up, Hubert puts up little resistance and is eliminated.

“Hmm… you are more skilled than I thought, Professor. It will do well for me to remember that,” is all Hubert says as he leaves the battlefield. Aschere decides she’ll ponder what he means about that later. Only Edelgard and Manuela left. Just as Aschere is giving thought to who will attack Edelgard first, Felix makes the decision for her, running at Edelgard at full speed. She can hear Dimitri sighing loudly, and Aschere signals for Ashe and Annette to follow as well.

“Back up Felix, I’m going to deal with Manuela.”

Aschere had expected White Magic from Manuela. She did not expect throwing daggers. Well, she likes that Manuela is putting up more of a fight than Hanneman did. Manuela parries Aschere’s blow with one of her daggers, but the proximity allows Aschere to slide her training sword off and down to hit Manuela. She does, however, dodge out of the way from a second attack hitting, and Aschere is forced to follow up with magic. She gets one hit in that way. One more to go.

Aschere suddenly feels something hit the side of her face. It takes her a second to realize one of Manuela’s daggers grazed her cheek. Well, the edges were blunted, for it didn’t draw blood.

“I suppose that counts, if only just.”

“It’s all about technicalities.”

Manuela parries off another blow from Aschere’s sword and dodges any follow up this time. However, after dodging, she pauses, and points behind her. Aschere didn’t take Manuela for trying cheap distraction tactics, until Manuela speaks.

“Well, it seems your students have taken out the last of mine.” That causes Aschere to turn around, seeing Edelgard without her weapon, and Dimitri speaking to her. Felix has his arms crossed, looking like he’s pouting. He probably got eliminated before his classmates could reach him.

“There’s no point in prolonging this, so I concede to you, Aschere,” Manuela says with a wink. Aschere blinks in question for a moment, and then just shrugs.

“And, with that, the Blue Lion House is the winner of this mock battle,” Jeralt calls out over the field. Looking over, Aschere can see Byleth next to him, with a smirk on his face.

_“Well, that was certainly fun, don’t you think?” **Maybe. Except nearly being blasted with magic.** “Hmm… he is a student. Perhaps he was unaware of the strength of his spell.” **Somehow, I doubt that.** “Are you to tell the other Professors of that?” **Dunno.**_

Well, this is something to think of later. She goes to rejoin with her students.

“Well. I see the new Professor is a force to be reckoned with,” Edelgard says as Aschere walks up to the group. “But I suppose that should be expected, considering her skill displayed against those bandits.”

“Yes, your leadership certainly gave us the edge in battle,” Dimitri chimes in. “I am again reminded that I have much to learn.”

“Well, that’s why we’re all here, isn’t it?” Ashe says cheerfully.

“I suppose she was okay,” Felix huffs. Annette frowns at Felix’s words, and chastises him.

“Professor Aschere’s instructions were excellent, you have no one to blame but yourself for running off.”

“Maybe she should issue commands faster next time.”

“Felix, please. Do not take your own frustrations out on the Professor.”

“I don’t recall asking a Boar for his opinion,” and with that Felix walks off. Dimitri just shakes his head.

“Please, do not think badly of Felix. He tends to let his frustrations get the better of him.” Aschere just shrugs and moves to make the journey back up the mountain to the monastery.

The rest of the day is a free day after the mock battle, and Aschere uses most of the rest of the morning helping Byleth go through the training ground’s weapon inventory. Jeritza is, again, nowhere to be found.

“How does that man even have his job,” Byleth comments at one point. Aschere does not have an answer. Near the afternoon, as Aschere is walking back from the market area after having taken several weapons to the blacksmith, she runs into Dimitri, whom had apparently been looking for her. The rest of her students are soon to catch up.

“I was hoping we could all share a meal together.” Dimitri explains. “It could serve both as a victory celebration and a post-battle analysis. What do you think?”

Aschere tilts her head in confusion. “I’m invited?”

“Of course! If not for your leadership, we surely would not have won. And I’m sure you’ve also worked up an appetite from the battle.” That is true, she hasn’t eaten since the morning.

“We can’t very well celebrate without the key to our victory present.” Sylvain says with a wink.

Annette nods in agreement. “We were only able to win because we had you help, Professor Aschere!”

Aschere taps her hand against her chin in thought. “I suppose I will come. May my brother come as well? I don’t think he has eaten since morning either.”

“Of course! I would be pleased to ask him of his opinion of the battle, since he had an overlooking vantage point.” Dimitri says with a smile.

“Okay. I’ll meet you in the dining hall in a few minutes, then.

“Oh, please do hurry. Today was exhausting. I’m so hungry I can barely stand…” Mercedes replies with.

“To be honest, so am I. We’ll see you at the dining hall!” Ashe says as he and the other students move to leave. Dimitri, however, stays. Aschere tilts her head again, expecting him to speak.

“Professor… I’m sorry to intrude, but… you don’t look so happy for someone who won a battle today.”

“I’m sorry?” Aschere says in question.

“I apologize if that insulted you, I mean no offense. It’s just… the look in your eyes is very… distant. I know we only just met, so this may be difficult for you but…” Aschere continues to look at him expectantly. She doesn’t know what he means by her eyes look distant. “I’d love nothing more than to share our happiness with you. Joy can be so fleeting. We are a team, are we not? So, I hope you will consent. I’m sure the rest of the class feels the same way. Well, go get your brother, so we may enjoy the fruits of our labour.” Dimitri finishes with a smile.

Aschere nods, before departing to get Byleth. Share their happiness? It feels like a strange thing to ask of her, but she supposes she can try.

Byleth is all too happy to get away from inventory management, and quickly joins Aschere and her class for their feast. He watches in amusement at the students’ amazement at the amount of food his sister can eat and spends a good portion of the time complaining about Jeritza shirking his duties.

“Professor. I caught part of your match against Professor Manuela. I have to say, I did not expect Manuela to be as skilled as she was, and she certainly looked like she was a good match for you.” Dimitri says of Aschere’s performance during the mock battle. Aschere will admit that she enjoyed that match the most out of the battle.

“I’m sure Professor Manuela would have gone easier on a student, right?” Annette says with uncertainty.

“Maybe… maybe not. This was supposed to be a test of our abilities.” Ingrid replies with.

“Yeah, but she was throwing daggers at our Professor!”

“They were dulled.” Aschere comments.

“But still!”

“Well, there’s no use worry about something that didn’t happen.” Mercedes reassures Annette.

“Well, I for one enjoyed watching the battle between the two lovely Professors.” Sylvain comments, earning him glares from Ingrid as well as Byleth.

“Watch your tongue before I remove it from your mouth,” Felix spits, still in a bitter mood.

“Oh, don’t be like that just because Edelgard beat you.”

“Hmph.”

“You wanna spar later?” Byleth says to Felix. Felix looks at him with suspicion.

“Why?”

“Bored. And you look restless. But not right after we eat. You’ll regret it.”

“I am aware.”

Felix says nothing more after that, and promptly leaves. Byleth shakes his head and sighs.

“I don’t think Felix likes me very much,” Byleth says bluntly.

“Yeah, well, Felix doesn’t like most people,” Sylvain says with a slight laugh.

“Don’t let it get to you too much.” Dimitri tries to explain. “He may come off as abrasive, but Felix does mean well deep down… just, a lot has happened.”

“I figured.” At that, Byleth excuses himself. Ashe finally looks up from his book as Byleth is leaving.

“Did something happen?” Annette and Mercedes try to hold back giggles.

“It is nothing, Ashe. Don’t worry about it,” Dimitri reassures. Ashe nods and goes back to his book. “Well, again, thank you for joining us, Professor. I hope you enjoyed this gathering.” Aschere nods, though her face still blank. She can see Dimitri frown slightly. Aschere decides it would be best to leave now. She wants to rest.

Returning to her quarters, she is sitting on the edge of her bed, removing her boots, when Sothis manifests in front of her.

“Well, today was certainly a whirlwind, wouldn’t you agree?” Sothis says, kicking her feet back and forth in the air. Aschere nods. “You seem troubled.”

“I feel out of place with my students.”

“Well, I believe that is natural. You are their teacher.”

“Yes, but I… Dimitri said he wants me to share in their joy, and I don’t… I don’t know how to do that.”

“Ah, yes. Your emotions are a bit stunted, aren’t they?” Aschere nods at that. Its always been like that. “But you feel bad for this? So, in that you are feeling.” Aschere looks at Sothis with wide eyes. She hadn’t even realized it. She does feel bad. Or, she supposes, she feels sad. “Well, if you can feel disappointment in yourself, maybe you’ll be able to feel joy soon as well.” Sothis says with a smile.

“I hope so.”

Aschere feels exhausted, but she listens to Sothis speak for awhile. Sothis makes many comments on how much Aschere ate, and how she wished she could have tasted something as well. Although, she is apparently vaguely aware of what things taste like through Aschere. It makes Aschere wonder just what the connection between Sothis and herself is.

_She descends from the Heavens. Was a Beast of Heaven. The Children of the Earth feared her._

_And so, She made Herself one with the Earth. Took the form of its Children._

_From the Blood of Her body, and the soil of the Earth, sprung forth her Children._


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bandits????

After the mock battle, Aschere must start doing lectures on battle tactics. Hanneman’s lectures are covering the War of Heroes, and he gives her as much literature on the topic as he can. However, direct accounts of the battle are sparse, so it is hard to go into the tactics of the War itself.

So Aschere decides to focus on the concept of strong leadership. How, the figure leading an army’s ability to inspire their soldiers is a key factor in winning at war. While she herself doesn’t think of herself as charismatic, she thinks her father fits that description. How he would joke with the other mercenaries of his company, which kept them in better moods when money was tight.

Conversations in each of the classes would eventually shift to questions of whether Seiros was a warrior or not.

On the second week of lectures, during the Golden Deer class period, Claude seems to be firm in the opinion that Seiros may have led the army, but she probably didn’t fight.

“I mean, she was a Holy woman. And there are no records of a Relic weapon for someone with the Crest of Seiros, right?”

“Surely the Emperor of Adrestia would have that Relic if it did exist,” Ignatz says.

Aschere is watching the conversation happen, when it feels like an image invades her brain. Of a dream. Or a memory. Both? She clutches her head at the feeling, for it is quite unpleasant.

“Hey Teach, you okay?” Claude asks when she sees her holding her head.

Aschere feels her mouth speak almost without her own input. “Seiros defeated Nemesis in single combat.”

“What?”

“I… sorry. I don’t know why I said that.” She can see Claude’s eyes narrow, but he soon goes back to his cheerful demeanor.

“Well, as long as you’re okay, Teach.”

Though, planting the seed that Seiros defeated Nemesis in single combat without a Relic was interesting. Then, there is the stories of the Immaculate One. Very interesting.

_“That memory. Or dream. Was it mine? It couldn’t have been yours, Seiros lived a thousand years ago. But… if it is my memory… what am I?”_ Aschere does not have an answer for Sothis.

Two weeks into the month, and Aschere is called in to see Rhea and Seteth.

“Aschere, please forgive my late congratulations, but your work with the students was remarkable. Jeralt certainly trained you well.”

“Thank you.” Aschere says in response.

“Do try to remember that later in the year, there will be the real test of your students’ ability: The Battle of the Eagle and Lion during the Wyvern Moon. Unlike previous years, where the students would be led by their Houses’ professors, this year the Houses will be led by the House Leaders.” Seteth says shortly after.

“Oh?”

“As this year’s class has the honour of having the heirs to each of the nations of Fodlan, the Battle will also be a test of their own leadership capabilities.” Rhea explains.

“You are expected to properly train _all_ of the students, so as not to humiliate the academy during the long-held tradition.” Seteth says bluntly.

“Of course.”

“Now, for the main topic at hand. I have called you forth to tell you of a mission for your class.” Rhea says.

“A mission?”

“Those affiliated with Garreg Mach Monastery have a moral obligation to help those in need, regardless of social standing. This also applies to our students.” Seteth explains.

“Your mission will be aiding in dealing with bandits in the area. I believe the are the same ones whom attacked the students.” Rhea says next.

“Is that not dangerous for the students?”

“The students here are expected to become leaders on the battlefield. If they cannot deal with simple bandits, then their expectations are sure to fall short.” Seteth says bluntly. Aschere just blinks in confusion.

“A member of the Knights is tracking them as we speak. If they are deemed enough of a threat, then we will send the Knights proper after them. However, your own actions against them last month seemed to have weakened them severely.”

“I see…”

“Once their base has been determined, you will be expected to deal with this threat. Be prepared to head out by the end of this month.”

“Very well.” Aschere bows to Rhea and Seteth.

“I can sense something special within your heart… I have high hopes for you, Aschere.” Rhea says to her with a gentle smile. Aschere nods again, before she is dismissed.

_“Bandits, they say. Well, you won’t shamelessly fall like last time, will you?” **Of course not.** “Good! Now, you should get something to eat. I can hear your stomach growling!” **Yes, Sothis.**_

“Bandits, huh?” Jeralt says to Aschere in the Dining Hall. She is sitting with her father and brother for lunch.

“Fairly standard for you, but how will the whelps do?” Byleth says before biting off another piece of bread.

“The Knights are to assist you, although I am unsure if I can be the one to go.” Jeralt sighs. “Rhea seems fairly set on keeping me away from you.”

“Wish I could go,” Byleth responds with.

“Is there any reason you can’t go?” Aschere asks. Byleth stares at his food for a moment before replying.

“I don’t know. I guess I could ask Rhea. Or I could not ask her and go anyway.”

“Do well to not get on Rhea’s bad side, By.” Byleth just waves his hand, dismissing his father’s comments. “Also, I have been meaning to ask you two.” Aschere tilts her head at her father. “How are you adjusting to the Monastery?”

Both siblings ponder their answers for a moment.

“I don’t mind being here.” Byleth says after a moment.

“Neither do I. I like having access to this much food.” Jeralt blinks at his daughter, reminiscent of how Aschere tends to react to things. “Is something wrong?”

“No, no. I just… wasn’t expecting that kind of answer from you. I can’t remember the last time you’ve outwardly said you liked something.”

“Aschere had a feeling? Next the Valley of Torment will freeze over.”

“And next Byleth will stop being sarcastic.”

“Now _that_ is actually impossible,” Jeralt says with a laugh. Byleth just rolls his eyes and goes back to eating. Aschere notes the light feeling in her chest, something unfamiliar to her. It’s not unpleasant, though. She rather likes it.

Hanneman’s historical lectures move into the smaller battles done by the Adrestian Empire to establish stability throughout Fodlan, and Aschere starts moving into more general tactics. This is also in a move to prepare her own class for dealing with the bandits. She feels a weight in the pit of her stomach at the idea of one of her students dying. It’s a new feeling for her. Not that she liked the idea of any of her father’s mercenaries dying, but it never affected her as much as now.

She can’t help but wonder what is happening to her.

Its near the end of the month that the Knight corner the last of the bandits. They are in Zanado, the Red Canyon. A place that Aschere has never been to. In fact, she is told by members of the Church that the place is sacred ground to the Goddess, and thus it is usually off-limits to the general populous. Just another transgression of these thieves.

As the Blue Lions travel to Zanado, Dimitri rides his horse next to Aschere’s so he may speak to her.

“I hope everything goes well…” Aschere comments at one point in their conversation. She thinks she is worried. She’s not sure. All she knows is she doesn’t like this feeling.

“We have the Knights on our side, all should be well. Although, I will admit we are a bit overly excited,” Dimitri says as both Aschere and him look over to see Sylvain nearly fall off his horse while trying to stand on the saddle. He’s trying to impress Mercedes and Annette, who are riding in a cart with Ashe and Dedue. Felix gives Sylvain one frigid look before riding ahead, and Ingrid is yelling about Sylvain cracking his skull open. Dimitri just shakes his head. “Speaking of the Knights, it is a shame that Jeralt is not joining us. I was looking forward to seeing the two of you fight side by side in battle.”

“Would it be that interesting to see?” Aschere says, tilting her head at Dimitri. She sees his eyes widen, like he said something wrong. But he didn’t? She just asked a question.

“Ah, of course. I apologize for letting my childish whims get the better of me.” She sees his eyes glance away from her after that.

“You don’t need to apologize.”

“I see… in all honest, I’m a bit jealous of you.”

“How so?”

“That you have your father, and a brother.”

“Oh…” Aschere remembers of the Tragedy of Duscar.

“I am all that remains of them now…” Dimitri says, trailing off. He shakes his head before looking back at Aschere. “Anyhow, I am sorry to bore you with such things. We are nearly at the Red Canyon. It would be best if we prepared for battle, wouldn’t you say?” Aschere nods as Dimitri rides ahead.

_“So, we are taking children into battle.” **They aren’t children.** “Hmph, they are close enough. I can feel how you worry for their safety.” **I…** “Do not deny it. I will allow you to use my power to turn back time. Know it is not infinite, however.” **Oh… I see. Thank you, Sothis.** “Yes, thank me more!”_

Knowing that if things get bad, she can possibly undo it all makes her feel lighter.

The Knight in charge of the operation says the bandits have been cornered deeper in the ruins, and Aschere is to lead her students in making sure they don’t escape. There is a secondary path that they are to patrol. Aschere nods to the man, before calling for her students to join her.

“The Red Canyon… This is the first time I have ever been here. It’s like walking through a ruin.” Dimitri comments as they walk through it. It’s dead quiet, like there are not even birds living here.

“I wonder who lived here in the past…” Ashe wonders, looking at the ruined buildings.

“It certainly looks like an ancient civilization, don’t you think?” Annette asks.

“Don’t get distracted by buildings, it would be a stupid way to die,” Felix responds with.

“I’m looking out!”

“Don’t shout, you’ll give away our position.”

Annette huffs, and goes to walk with Mercedes. Aschere can’t help but stare at the buildings in wonder. They feel… familiar. But that can’t be. She’s never been here before. Has she?

_“They feel familiar to you as well?” **Yes.** “Hmm… again, I must ask. Are these your memories… or mine?”_ Aschere doesn’t have an answer. She is broken out of her thoughts by a noise. A bandit runs from a ruin towards the group and is quickly cut down by Dedue. In the distance there is more noise. They must be getting close to where the bandits are being corner.

“Be on your guard, there will likely be more bandits.” Her students nod to her. As they continue towards the noise, there is a side path that catches Aschere’s attention. It is covered in scrub, really it is barely a path at all. Why is it interesting to her? Until she hears voices coming from that direction. Motioning to her students, they stand near her as she tries to listen. It is a bit difficult, as they are far off.

“I can’t believe the Knights chased us all the way here!” The voice is familiar.

“The bandits that attacked us, remember?” Dimitri whispers. Ah, that is it.

“Boss, lets get out of here. There’s no way we can win against them!”

“And go where? You know damn well the Knights don’t let up. Just lay low and hope they don’t find us.”

“Well, looks like it’s the bandits’ unlucky day,” Sylvain comments, Ingrid quickly shushing him. Aschere motions for the students to follow. The path is very familiar now. The buildings look more damaged. Like there was fighting here, though long ago. The broken edges look worn down from time.

Why is this familiar?

Why?

There seems to be a building up ahead, slightly less damaged than the rest. More speaking comes from it. So that’s where they are hiding.

“Think we can corner them?” Sylvain asks.

“We don’t know how many are in the building, and fighting in a confined space is dangerous,” Ingrid replies with. Aschere agrees. It would be far too easy for someone to get hit within the building. Motioning for everyone to hide behind the ruined walls, Aschere picks up a stone and throws it towards the building the bandits are holed up in. She then tells the students to split up around the area, closer to the building, and for Ashe and Annette to get ready.

“What was that?”

“Go check what it was, idiot.” Three bandits exit the building to look around, splitting up. Its what she figured they would do. One bandit goes down the main pathway towards where Aschere, Ashe, Mercedes, and Annette are waiting. She signals to Ashe and Annette, and while Ashe hesitates, Annette does not, and releases a powerful blast of wind at the thief. They crumple to the ground as the blast hits them in the face. At least it was a clean kill. Aschere goes to get the bandit, to hide the body, and watches and Sylvain and Ingrid spear the second bandit down another path in the head, and Felix cuts down another in a quick strike. The managed to keep the noise to a minimum. Its then Aschere spots a fourth bandit circling around from the back. There must be another exit. Dammit.

Dimitri both spots and is spotted by the fourth. Aschere nearly panics, there is no way Dimitri can ready his weapon fast enough. But before she can brace herself for possibly having to see Dimitri cut down, and having to use the Divine Pulse so soon, she watches as Dimitri quickly grabs the bandit. He puts them into a choke hold, and she soon sees the bandit go limp. She lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, and motions for Dimitri and Dedue to come back to her.

“Are you alright?” She asks Dimitri when he rejoins them.

“The Boar is fine,” Felix responds first.

“Felix,” Ingrid says, glaring. Felix seems unaffected.

“I am fine, Professor. I am just glad I could react as fast as I did.” Aschere nods. The group waits a few minutes to see if any more bandits come out. Aschere even throws another rock, but no one else comes out, even though she can still hear talking. Listening, she can only hear four more distinct voices. She motions for the students to follow her. She sends Sylvain, Ingrid, Ashe, and Mercedes to the back, and with the rest of the students, enter the front of the building.

They don’t see anyone immediately, as there is a wall in the way. Aschere walks through the broken halls like she’s done it a million times. Rounding a corner, sword in hand, she sees the same bandit that tried to kill Dimitri, Claude, and Edelgard sitting on a ruined stone alter.

“What the hell are a bunch of kids doing here?” The man pauses. “Wait… you’re- shit, you’re with the Knights, aren’t you?” The man scrambles to his feet. Dimitri, Dedue, Felix, and Annette are waiting for Aschere to give them a command, but Aschere can barely remember they are there. She feels heat in her chest and in her head. The heat consumes her thoughts.

How dare this man be here? How dare these bandits come here? Invade her home again?

How dare they? How dare they? How dare they?

Aschere charges forward. She’s not even aware she is yelling. It isn’t until her sword hit the alter that she realizes what she was doing. She quickly turns her head, almost in a snap, staring at the bandit leader she had nearly cut down. She can’t imagine what she looks like to the bandit, but from the look of terror on his face, its probably not good. She whips her arm around, cutting up with her sword, ending the man’s life. The students that had been with her cut down the other two bandits in the building, and the other four soon join her, saying they only encountered one other. Aschere is just staring at the man bleeding near the stone alter. Her mind thinks of the throne Sothis is always sitting on.

Then her mind blanks.

She feels like she’s being stabbed. She’s been stabbed before. It’s always horrible. This is worse. Being stabbed so many times. Like her body is being taken apart. Make it stop. Make it stop. Makeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstop-

She can feel someone touching her. She almost swings at them before she sees that it’s Dimitri, with Dedue right behind him. They look scared. Of her? Or for her? She doesn’t know. She can’t tell the difference.

“Professor, are you alright? You killed that bandit, and then you were screaming.”

“I was?”

Her students nod. They all wide eyes. Of confusion? Worry? Fear? Her head hurts. But the pain is gone.

“I’m fine. I’m not sure what happened, but it stopped.”

“We should return to the Knights, tell them we dealt with the bandit leader. And maybe have a healer look at you.” Aschere doesn’t want to see a healer, but she doesn’t argue with Dimitri. She just follows her students, feeling exhausted.

The Knights’ healer doesn’t find anything wrong with her. Although, as the healer tries to listen to Aschere’s heartbeat, she simply looks the healer dead in the eye. I know its not there, her gaze says. The healer says nothing about that, and declares the Professor is exhausted and needs to rest. She curls up a corner of the cart, using her coat as a blanket, her horse following close behind. Mercedes sits next to her, eyes full of worry (she thinks). She feels like a child again.

**_Sothis?_** Aschere asks within her mind. _“Yes?” **Did you feel that, too? In Zanado?**_ There is silence for a moment. _“Yes.” **Was it your memory?** “I don’t know.” **Sorry.** “Why are you apologizing**?” I don’t know. It feels like my fault.** “Nonsense. You defeated the bandits, and all your students are safe. You didn’t do anything wrong. I thank you.” **Why are you thanking me**? _More silence. _“I don’t know.” **We sure don’t know a lot of things.** “I agree. But I still feel like I should thank you.” **Alright then.** _

Sothis is silent for a while but speaks up again when they are closer to the monastery. _“But… Zanado was certainly an interesting place.” **I agree.** “Why is it that we seem to remember it?” **No idea.** “It certain felt like… like there was a great depth of emotion tied to the place?” _Aschere doesn’t respond to that. She didn’t feel anything but pain. _“Like joy and sorrow. Pain and Love. And all things in-between…”_ She’ll agree on the pain. _“Someday, I will regain my lost memories. And then I shall tell you what that place means to me. Or, I suppose, to us. For we are without a doubt connected.” **All right. I’ll look forward to that.**_

Of course, Aschere’s episode is reported to Jeralt as soon as they return to the monastery. Aschere would prefer if her father wasn’t worrying over her.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Her father asks her for the fourth time in the last twenty minutes.

“Yes, I’m fine. I don’t know what happened at Zanado, but whatever it was, it stopped quickly.”

“Don’t let it happen again,” Byleth says dryly. “It would be embarrassing for you to get killed by bandits.”

“I am aware of that.”

“Well, from what your students said, the job was handled easily enough. Speaking of which, you should probably report to Lady Rhea. She’ll want to hear from you directly.” Jeralt tells Aschere. Very well, time to get that over with.

As Aschere is making her way to the audience chamber, she runs into Dimitri, who in return seemed to have run into Edelgard. She misses what Dimitri says to Edelgard first.

“There’s no need to state the obvious, Dimitri. But tell me… Why the concern?” It seems Dimitri is worried for Edelgard? Hmm… “Perhaps you doubt my abilities? If so, your lack of insight is disappointing.”

“That’s… not what I meant. If I’ve offended you, I hope you’ll accept my apology.” Always so sincere.

“Don’t worry about.” Edelgard turns to Manuela. “Professor, we must hurry. Everyone’s waiting on us.”

“I suppose I should be off, too. Try not to let her get to you, Dimitri. I promise, there’s no need for concern.” As Manuela leaves, Dimitri seems lost in thought.

Aschere looks at Dimitri, thinking. What was that about? Hmm…

“Puppy love?” Aschere questions Dimitri. She doesn’t think Dimitri likes Edelgard, she more wants to see how he will react.

Dimitri laughs. “Now, that’s a lark. I had no idea you had a sense of humor, Professor.”

“And Byleth says no one else but him and my father understands when I’m joking.” Dimitri laughs again.

“I’ll tell you about it… some other time. I believe Rhea has been looking for you, so I do not wish to keep you.” Aschere nods and departs from Dimitri. Well, he said he’ll tell her later, so no use wondering about it now.

“So, you have safely disposed of those bandits.” Rhea says to Aschere as their meeting begins. “I pray that their souls find salvation.” Aschere doesn’t know if they were people deserving of salvation. What she does know is most people don’t turn to banditry as their first choice. “But, why did they target the students to begin with? We must further investigate the true cause of all that took place.”

Aschere nods. She remembers some of what the bandits said during the first encounter.

“The bandit leader said something questioning why mercenaries or the Knights of Seiros were there.”

“Oh?” Aschere nods again.

“I think they were hired by someone.” Aschere pauses to think. “Someone who knew the heirs to all three countries of Fodlan would be where they were?”

“I see. If that is the case, then whomever hired those bandits must be within the Church. No one else would have known those students would be there. But this gives somewhere to start looking. I thank you. Until we know more, I ask that you support and protect your students, and relieve them of any unnecessary worry.” Rhea says with a gentle smile.

“I will.”

“Good. I have high expectation of you.” The smile leaves Rhea’s face. “By the way, how was your time in Zanado? I heard of how you seemed distressed while there.”

Aschere blanks for a moment. She doesn’t know if she wants to tell Rhea about the weird things that filled her head. Would she even believe her?

“Legend has it, in ancient times, a goddess alighted upon this world in that very canyon. Since then, it has been a Holy Place for the Church of Seiros.”

“A goddess?”

“Long ago, the divine Seiros received a revelation from the goddess. A gift, to help guide the lost.”

“Do you think what happened to me has something to do with the goddess?” Aschere asks.

“I know not.” Aschere can hear Rhea laugh quietly. “Perhaps the goddess was upset that bandits invaded the home of her past. However, she no longer dwells there. Her home is in the Heavens, where she watches over all. She is the mother of all life, the arbiter of every soul.”

“I see… my father never told me much of the Church of Seiros.” Aschere admits.

“During your time here, I pray that you come to devote yourself to the teachings of Seiros.” Hmm… she’ll think about that. Aschere cannot say she isn’t curious.

There is a knock at the door, and soon after Seteth lets himself in.

“Lady Rhea,” Seteth says as he bows. “I am sorry to interrupt. There is something I must ask about regarding those bandits.”

“Ah, yes. There is something I must discuss with you as well.” Rhea turns back to Aschere. “We shall continue our discussion when next we meet.”

Aschere bows, before quickly leaving.

_“A goddess… I have no memory of her. But then… I have no memory at all!”_ Aschere can hear Sothis make noises of frustration. _“Oh, how bothersome! It is as though I know… and yet I don’t.” **You don’t have to push yourself. **“But I wish to know! Perhaps Zanado was my home back when the goddess walked the land.” **Maybe. And maybe that’s why the memory made both of us angry? You didn’t like the bandits in your home. **“Hmm… maybe. But if I lived when the goddess was there, what does that make me now? A ghost?” **Are you haunting me, Sothis? **“Of course not! I cannot be a ghost. I am certainly alive. But then… why am I with you? Why are we connected? Hmm… perhaps some regret is stopping me from moving on, and now I’m forced to stay with you.” **Why me? **“I don’t know! But I cannot believe is such a meaningless existence!_

Aschere can hear Sothis yawn, and seemingly go back to sleep, as she speaks no more. Well, she certainly left Aschere with much to think about.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lonato chapter

The next month is when Aschere is to start training on leading battalions. Many of the Officers Academy are to become officers of various militaries, so it stands to reason they should be trained specifically in that. She has been given special emphasis on teaching the House Leaders in this, and she is very aware why. As well, this month is when testing on retained knowledge is to begin, and Aschere is to make sure that the Blue Lions are prepared for this.

Felix is in a terrible mood due to this, as he will be tested on magic.

“Why did you put magic as one of your subjects if you hate it so much?” Annette asks while they are studying equations for Theoretical Magic.

“It wasn’t my decision, it was my father’s.”

“Oh…” Annette doesn’t continue, and Felix just lays his head on the table, on top of his books.

“Uhm… I can help you, if you like?” Annette offers. Felix doesn’t respond.

“Felix, you shouldn’t ignore a young lady like that,” Sylvain comments. “Especially when they are offering to help you study.” The tone of his words come off suggestive, and Felix snaps up to try to hit Sylvain with his book. Felix misses, but it matters not, because Sylvain gets hit upside the head by Ingrid instead.

“Felix isn’t you, Sylvain.”

“Clearly.” Ingrid just sighs at Sylvain’s final comment and goes back to studying with Ashe.

“I’d almost rather be studying magic, then having to remember battalion maneuvers,” Ashe says in response.

“Trust me, you don’t,” Felix says flatly.

“Ashe, you needn’t worry too much,” Dimitri says, in an attempt to comfort. “You will do fine.” Dimitri sighs. “Can’t possibly do much worse than me.”

“What are you saying, Your Highness?” Ashe nearly shouts. “I can’t imagine that you’d do badly on the test.”

Dimitri just laughs nervously. Soon, they are interrupted by Mercedes entering the classroom with a tray of baked sweets, and the Blue Lions pause their suffering to eat.

“I hope you like these, I am trying some recipes that Dedue gave me,” Mercedes says with a smile.

“Oh, he gave you recipes for sweets?” Ashe asks excitedly. Dimitri quietly laughs at the light flush on Dedue’s face at the idea that people are excited to try recipes from him. Mercedes nods to Ashe.

“Maybe even Felix would like these. There are far more spices in them than sugar.” Felix just shrugs.

Aschere soon enters the Blue Lions classroom, walking past the table with Mercedes’ baked goods, and taking one.

“Oh, hello Professor. I trust your meeting with Lady Rhea went well?” Dimitri asks as Aschere goes to her desk. Sylvain gives a weird look to Ingrid and Felix, which Aschere decides to ignore.

“We were tasked with aiding the Knight again this month.” Aschere replies with. “Byleth is to join us as well.”

“Will your father be joining us, too?” Mercedes asks. “It would be quite the family outing,” she ends with a laugh. Aschere shakes her head.

“A different Knight is in charge. Catherine.” Aschere frowns.

“Is something wrong?” Dimitri asks.

“Hmm? N-no. Not really.” Aschere pauses. She supposes she should say what the mission is. “We are to be aiding the Knights in dealing with a minor Lord in the Kingdom. He is apparently inciting hostility against the Church.”

“What?” Dimitri’s eyes widen. “Who is this Lord?”

“Uhm… Lonato, I believe.”

“What?” Aschere turns to Ashe, who stood up so fast he knocked his chair over. “That can’t be. Lord Lonato would never…” Before Aschere can say anything back to him, he leaves the classroom. Aschere is left staring at the spot Ashe left.

“Will he be okay? Should I go after him?” Aschere asks her students, unsure of what to do. Most look at each other without speaking.

“Professor, I suppose you were not informed of this, but Ashe is the adopted son of Lord Lonato.” Dimitri explains. Aschere’s eyes widen. Which means that their mission this month is to…

“I’m going after him,” Aschere says quickly before leaving the classroom. It’s only after she leaves that she realizes that she doesn’t know where Ashe went. Maybe to speak to Rhea? Leaving the courtyard of the Academy area, she runs into Alois.

“Oh, hello Aschere.”

“Hello, Alois. Have you seen Ashe?”

“Hmm? I think I saw him go towards the Cathedral. He looked distressed. Did something happen?” Aschere doesn’t answer him, and heads towards the Cathedral. She finds Ashe sitting in a pew.

“Hello, Professor. I’m sorry for leaving so suddenly.” Ashe stares at the floor. “I wanted to go to Lady Rhea and tell her there must be some kind of mistake. Lord Lonato would never attack the Church. But… what would even say to her?” Aschere doesn’t have an answer.

“Dimitri told me about you and Lonato. I won’t make you go on the mission.”

“No, I will go.” Ashe purses his lips. “I’d try to send a letter to Lonato, to ask him what is going on. But I doubt it would make it there. So, the best I will have is talking to him in person.”

“You realize that won’t be safe.”

“I know… but I have to try.”

“All right. I’ll try to make sure that happens.”

“Thank you, Professor.”

Byleth voices his opinion on going to subjugate enemies of the Church the next day during the Black Eagles’ training slot.

“And why are we, never mind students, being sent on a Knights’ mission?” Byleth asks between training Edelgard, Ferdinand, and Caspar in axe use, and Aschere parrying a blow from Petra.

“We are supporting from the back lines, as I recall Catherine saying,” Aschere respond with mid-dodge. Byleth sighs, swinging down at his current opponent, Caspar, who yelps in surprise. Byleth put too much force in it.

“I guess we should save this conversation for later,” Byleth comments. However, Edelgard comments on their conversation.

“What is the Church doing sending students to deal with their own conflicts?” Both siblings just shrug at her.

“I’m not a fan of doing the Church’s dirty work, but father already said not to get on Rhea’s bad side,” Byleth shrugs

“Well, you certainly sound like you don’t like the Church.” Edelgard pauses. “Not the thing to be saying while in the Monastery.” Byleth just shrugs again.

“Yeah, well that’s my own business.” Aschere tilts her head at her brother. She’s never really heard him talk about disliking the Church before. But, then again, they never really mentioned the Church before coming here. Edelgard’s expression is odd, but Aschere decides to not think much of it. Maybe someday she’ll learn how to read people.

Aschere never asks Byleth more about his opinion on the Church. She decides it’s better to not know. As well, if Byleth wants her to know something, he will tell her himself. That’s how it’s always been.

The rest of the month goes as smoothly as one could hope, all things considered. Ashe passes his weapons tests, with Byleth noting that he seems to excel at stealth. Something to considering for later. Dimitri comes to Aschere asking for aid in teaching some of the monastery orphans in swordsmanship, which she agrees to. The children seemed quite eager to learn, even if most of them kept calling her a knight. One of them called her a “princess”, to which Dimitri apologizes for. She has no idea why he is sorry.

Felix keeps challenging Aschere to duels, but to her surprise, asks her how she does the flash spell. She is willing to teach him but explains that it’s White Magic. He makes like he ate something gross but agrees anyway.

Sylvain continues to baffle Aschere. He flirts with any woman that comes across him, and in general goofs off constantly. However, he passes every test that month easily. Bizarre. Ingrid also scores wonderful marks, but it’s less of a surprise with her considering how hard she works.

Annette nearly has a panic attack over the tests, but Mercedes seems to excel in calming Annette down. It does not, however, stop Annette from basically living in the library for a week. Dimitri is also in the library for much of that week as well, but Dedue stops him from potentially pulling all-nighters.

The month nears its end, and thus the subjugation of Lord Lonato’s forces. Ashe spends the ride to Castle Gaspard seemingly on a knife’s edge. Although, Byleth sits next to Ashe quizzes him on ways to counter using an axe versus using a sword, which seems to calm Ashe down. In the very least, it keeps his mind off everything that is happening.

They meet up with Catherine near the castle.

“I have to say, it’s an honour to accompany such a brave and distinguished knight. None other than Catherine, wielder of Thunderbrand!” Dimitri says once they meet up. Byleth and Aschere both tilt their heads at the mention of Thunderbrand.

“What’s that?” Aschere asks.

“What, you don’t know?” Catherine asks. Byleth shrugs. Catherine holds up her sword from her belt, showing of a sword of unknown material and branches coming off the blade. “This is Thunderbrand, one of the Hero’s Relics.”

“And that would be…?” Byleth responds.

Catherine sighs. “A long, long time ago, the goddess bestowed divine weapons upon 10 heroes, which were passed down to their descendants. Not that it will be much help today, as our mission is just to help clean up the aftermath.”

“I wonder why Rhea wanted me to come, then.” Byleth says, while looking around. Ashe is standing near the Eisner siblings, and speaks up to Catherine.

“Why would Lonato incite such a reckless rebellion?”

“You should know more about that than any of us, Ashe.” Catherine responds.

“Well, I don’t. Lonato never mentioned anything of the like to me.”

“He probably didn’t want you getting caught up in his own personal vendetta,” Dimitri says.

“Vendetta?” Byleth asks. Ashe looks down before speaking.

“If I had to make a guess…it would have to do with Christophe…” The siblings tilt their heads in question again.

“I’m sure you are familiar with the Tragedy of Duscar.” Catherine glances at Dimitri.

“It’s alright, go on.”

“Well, Lord Lonato’s son, Christophe was accused of being involved in that whole awful affair. He was executed by the Church.”

“I wasn’t aware the Church executed criminals…” Byleth comments.

“Yes, well, it’s a duty of the Church to hold up the ideals of justice.”

“Right…” Byleth ends with. Dimitri can only look away. Aschere wants to move the conversation to something else, but she has no idea what.

“But it’s not just the Church that Lonato’s grudge is against, but also to those who turned him in…”

It’s then that a soldier runs up to their group, cutting Catherine off.

“Report! The enemy is approaching! They can’t be avoided.”

“What? What are soldiers doing out here?” Catherine questions back.

“Their numbers are far greater than we predicted. They used the fog to slip past the knights’ perimeter!”

Catherine turns to Byleth and Aschere. “Well, looks like our mission’s changed. Time to see what your old man taught you.” Catherine calls back as she runs off. “Don’t let any of your kids get hurt, you hear, Aschere?”

Aschere motions for her students to follow, and they follow the direction Catherine went off in. A dense fog has rolled into the forest surrounding the Castle.

“This fog doesn’t feel natural,” Byleth comments. Aschere has the students proficient in magic light the way ahead of them, but the fog is dense enough to even swallow magical light. “Definitely not natural.”

“If it’s unnatural, that means there is a mage causing it.” Aschere says in response to her brother.

“Which means we can get rid of it.”

Aschere turns to her students, “If there is a mage causing this fog, they are likely to be at the center of it, and where the fog is the thickest. Be on the lookout.”

They can hear fighting in the distance, as well as red flashes through the fog, like lightning.

“That would be Thunderbrand’s doing,” Dimitri explains. Aschere nods, and they move adjacent to it. They make a tight circle of Byleth in the front, Aschere in the back, Dimitri, Dedue, Ingrid, Sylvain, and Felix on the sides, with Annette, Mercedes, and Ashe between everyone. They don’t want to be caught off guard.

A few militias come from the fog, yelling about how Lord Lonato doesn’t deserve the suffering he has felt. They cut down the enemies quickly.

“These aren’t soldiers, they’re civilians.” Byleth comments with a sneer.

“That explains why there are more soldiers than were expected…” Dimitri comments and then trails off. Both look back at Ashe.

“Why would Lonato drag so many people into this?”

“I don’t have an answer for you,” is all Byleth can respond with.

The fog become so thick that the group can barely see each other.

“We must be close,” Aschere whispers. They reach a thicket of trees, which seems like a good place for someone to be hiding, and Aschere lets off a flash spell into it. They here a man yell out in shock, and Byleth charges in towards the noise. A yell, and the sound of flesh being rend, and the fog begins to dissipate.

“It’s you,” can be heard in the distance. Looking on, Catherine stands between the Eisner siblings and the students, and a man whom Aschere can only assume is Lonato. “Thunderstrike Cassandra.”

Who?

“It was your wretched zealotry that killed my son!”

“I only answer to Catherine now. Prepare to taste the blade of one who serves the goddess.”

Soldiers cut off Catherine from getting to Lonato, and the Blue Lions move to aid her. In the ensuing battle, Ashe gets through and runs to Lonato.

“Lonato, please! Why are you doing this? Why are you involving people from the town?”

“Ashe? To think the Church would send you against me as well. I cannot stand for the crimes of the Central Church any longer. I am sorry it had to come to this.” Lonato says as he readies his weapon. Ashe backs up, unsure of what to do, but before Lonato can reach him, Ashe fires off his bow. The arrow strikes Lonato in the throat. The last noise Ashe hears Lonato make is a gurgling choking noise on his own blood.

Ashe can only stand there in shock at what he did and doesn’t move when another soldier move to strike him.

Aschere watches at the militia’s spear drives into Ashe’s flesh. The world freezes and fills with scattered colour, before rewinding back. As Lonato falls, Aschere charges forward to get to Ashe, cutting down the man who killed Ashe but a few second ago.

“Ashe, you can’t stay here.” That seems to snap him out of his thoughts, and he gets to his feet to move farther back to safety.

With Lonato dead, most of the other militias retreat, leaving the Blue Lions to simply pick off the stragglers. Ashe, however, moves almost automatically for the rest of the battle.

“Ashe, I… I’m sorry this had to happen…” Dimitri begins when they are done, but Ashe cuts him off.

“No, Your Highness. It’s alright. We had to stop Lonato, before more people got hurt… right?” Dimitri doesn’t answer Ashe back. “But why do I feel so terrible? There were people I knew from the village out there! People who were so kind to me… and I killed them. What does that make me?”

“Please, don’t beat yourself up, Ashe. As you said, we did what had to be done.”

“I’m going to check on the town. My brother and sister are there… I hope they are okay.”

Aschere nods to Ashe. “All right. Be back soon, though. We will be heading back to the monastery soon.”

“Right, Professor. I won’t be too long. I promise.” Ashe leave after that, leaving Aschere and Dimitri. Dimitri can only look at the ground.

“That was… my first time killing civilians… Those whom I’m sworn to protect.” Byleth walks up to the two of them as Dimitri says that.

“That is unfortunately the reality of war,” Byleth says bluntly.

“Are you insane? Those weren’t knights or soldiers, but fathers and sons! We… we shouldn’t have killed them. We should have found another way…”

“Are knights and soldiers not also fathers and sons?” Aschere replies with. Dimitri’s eyes widen, and his gaze leaves Aschere and Byleth.

“I… I’m sorry. It was not fair of me to lash out at you… I know that if we hadn’t… done what we did, even more civilian lives would be lost.” Byleth crosses his arms at Dimitri, knowing he’s not finished yet. “At least, my mind understands that. But… my heart…”

Dimitri turns to Aschere. “Professor… is it truly okay to take any life you please, all in service of some implacable ‘just cause’? Lord Lonato had no desire for power, he simply believed his cause to be just. Who’s to say it wasn’t?”

“I don’t have an answer for that.”

“I’d like to believe we could have stopped this without bloodshed… perhaps you think me naïve but… I can’t believe otherwise.”

Dimitri is silent for a while, before Byleth cuts the silence.

“Honestly, I don’t know if you having that mindset will make you a good King or a bad one.” Dimitri looks at Byleth with wide eyes. “I suppose only time will tell.”

“I think he’ll be a good King. In the very least, Dimitri will be open to solving problems without force.” Byleth looks at his sister for a moment, and the shrugs. Dimitri blinks at Aschere for a moment before speaking.

“Thank you, Professor. I hope I live up to your expectations.”

It is a couple of hours before Aschere, Byleth, and the students are ready to go back to the monastery. But, before they can leave, Catherine meets up to them with a serious face.

“Well, this situation just got a lot more complicated.” She holds out a letter. “This was found on Lonato’s body. It mentions a plot to assassinate Lady Rhea.”

Everyone stares at Catherine for a moment, before Ashe speaks up.

“What? So then… Lonato was working with others?”

“It’s possible. We don’t know who sent the letter, so the content is suspect but… well, we can’t just ignore it. I’ll be going on ahead to report this to Lady Rhea… Goddess, I hope it’s nothing.” Catherine leaves shortly after that. Ashe, sitting in the cart, bows his head.

“Did… did someone use Lonato? What is going on?”

Upon reaching the monastery, Aschere and Byleth are briefed further on the assassination plot, and how it is to take place during the Goddess’ Rite of Rebirth. The 26th of the Blue Sea Moon. Neither Aschere nor Byleth can guess why they would choose that day.

When they leave the audience chamber, Aschere notices Byleth frowning deeply.

“Is something wrong?”

“I didn’t particularly like all the talk about ‘punishing sinners’ and the like. Of course, the students were hesitant about killing civilians. One of them was related to one of them.” Byleth sighs.

“Did you not chastise Dimitri’s own misgivings about what happened?” Byleth just waves his hand in dismissal of Aschere’s words.

“I mean on the concept of us killing people just because the Church said so. Aren’t you a little suspicious as to what is going on?”

“Of course I am, I just… We know so little about the Church in general, so how are we to judge?” Byleth just sighs again.

“Whatever. Go tell your students about their mission. I’ll go tell the Golden Deer and Black Eagle classes.”

“All right.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holy Mausoleum time, and the twins talk about the Lords

Aschere and the other Blue Lions quickly conclude that the assassination plot is a cover up for something else. As to what that is… everyone has mixed opinions. The monastery holds many valuable relics and artifacts, but why would they target the Church on a day where it would be the busiest?

A few days later, they get a compelling answer to that question.

“Heya, Teach. Your kingliness.” Claude announces as he enters the Blue Lions classroom, Hilda close behind him.

“Hello, Claude. Can we help you?” Dimitri asks. Aschere feels slight amusement that Dimitri never reacts to Claude calling him ‘Your kingliness’.

“As a matter of fact, you can.” Claude says as he sits on top of a table, ignoring the look from Aschere. “A little birdie told me that, you too, think the would-be assassins are in fact after something else.”

“And you came to us because…?” Aschere questions.

“Because I’m fairly certain I know what they are after. And I figured I have a better chance of getting aid in this asking you than Hanneman.”

“You better listen to him, because he won’t shut up about it to me,” Hilda sighs.

“Go on,” Dimitri replies with.

“All right. So, if we assume they are in fact after something of value from the monastery, why attack during the Rite of Rebirth? The monastery is at it’s most busy on that day, yes?”

“Yes, it’s a major religious ceremony. People from all over Foldan come for it.”

Claude nods to Dimitri. “Yes. Now, while that would make it easy to blend into crowds, it also makes it more likely you’ll get spotted. Especially if you’re somewhere you shouldn’t be. Literally any other day would be better… unless…”

“’Unless…’?” Aschere tilts her head.

“Unless they are after something in the Holy Mausoleum.” Claude grins.

Dimitri thinks for a moment. “I do believe I remember Alois mentioning that. That the mausoleum is open to the public on that day… but what could thieves possibly want in there?”

“Dunno. But that’s what we need to find out. I am going to find some more ‘volunteers’ for this mission into the mausoleum, so… you in? If Teach comes, then we won’t get in trouble, right?”

Dimitri pinches his brow. “This is just an excuse to go into the Mausoleum.”

“What? Noooo. Of course not. I only have the best interests of the Church at heart.” Dimitri just groans at Claude as Hilda laughs.

Aschere sighs. “Very well. But if you try to steal anything in there yourself, I’ll kill you myself.”

Claude gasps dramatically, “I would never!” He laughs, before leaving the classroom.

“See you, Aschere. Hopefully Claude is wrong, so we don’t actually have to fight anyone in there.” Hilda says, waving goodbye, and leaving.

Dimitri just shakes his head. “I can never tell what Claude is thinking.”

“So, I heard you are staking out the Mausoleum on the Day of the Rite of Rebirth,” is not something Aschere expected Linhardt to come to her with, especially so early in the morning.

“Who told you that?”

“Claude.” Of course.

“So, are you one of his ‘volunteers’?”

“I suppose. It’s the best opportunity I have to get a good look at the Mausoleum… especially Saint Serios’ tomb.”

“Saint Serios is in there?” Aschere asks.

“Yes. You didn’t know?” Aschere shakes her head. “I would have expected a professor at Garreg Mach to know a little more about it.” Aschere just shrugs at Linhardt.

“You don’t think the thieves are after that tomb, do you?”

“I have no idea, and I don’t frankly care,” Linhardt says with a yawn. “I’m off to take a nap now. Oh, and Caspar will be coming as well to the Mausoleum. Something about wanting to stand up for justice.”

“You have weapons training in an hour.” Aschere reminds Linhardt, to which he doesn’t respond to as he leaves.

By mid-month, the Mausoleum team consists of herself, Dimitri, Dedue (there is no way Dedue wouldn’t go with Dimitri), Claude, Hilda (she is being dragged along), Ignatz (he wants to see what the Mausoleum looks like, also won’t stand for it being desecrated), Linhardt (for his own curiosity), Caspar (to uphold justice), and Ferdinand (he overheard Linhardt, and is determined to capture the thief before Edelgard).

She asks Byleth if he wants to come along, as well.

“I’ll think about it. Edelgard mentioned something about there being secret passages within the monastery, so I’ve been helping her try to find them.”

“Any luck?”

“No.”

Aschere sighs. “I’d ask for Edelgard’s help as well with the Mausoleum, but I get the impression she doesn’t like me very much.”

“Hmm… maybe. She does seem to judge you heavily.”

“What do you think of her, Leth?”

“Me? Hmm…” Byleth moves his hand to his face in thought. “She reminds me of you.”

“Really?” Byleth nods.

“She’s only slightly more emotionally open than you are… although, you have been getting better.”

Aschere blinks in confusion at her brother. “Have I?” Byleth nods.

“Yeah, you actually react to things, lately.” Aschere doesn’t know how to react to Byleth’s words, though. “In regard to Edelgard, though, I feel… a lot of anxiety in her. Possibly paranoia.” Byleth just shrugs. “I couldn’t tell you what I think caused that, but whatever it was, it can’t have been good.”

“How are you so good at reading people?”

“Dunno. Just comes naturally to me.”

“Weird.”

“Maybe for you.” Aschere sticks her tongue out at her brother, and he just laughs. “By the way, I have been meaning to ask…”

“Hmm?”

“During the Lonato Rebellion… I saw events play twice again. Like when we first met the little Lordlings.” Aschere’s eyes widen, betraying her knowledge of that.

“So, you know something about that.”

“I… its hard to explain. No, its impossible to explain.”

_“If you wish to tell him about me, I don’t mind. He is your brother.”_ Sothis’ voice rings out in her mind. **_He’d never believe me. _**_“You don’t know that.”_

Aschere shakes her head. Byleth raises an eyebrow at her but doesn’t comment further.

“Well, if it keeps people from dying, I guess I can’t complain,” he says with a shrug. “Now, you asked me what I think of Edelgard. Now, I am going to do the same.”

“About Edelgard?”

“No, about Dimitri.” Aschere freezes. “I saw you with him, surrounded by a group of children. What was that about?”

“Oh, he asked me to help him teach the Church orphans swordsmanship. They were bothering him about it, apparently.”

“I see… you’re quite fond of Dimitri, aren’t you?”

“O-of course I am. He’s my student! I’m fond of all my students.”

“I’m sure,” Byleth says, unconvinced.

Why does she feel like Byleth is judging her? Why does she have to justify being fond of Dimitri? She doesn’t even know herself.

“But, I… he’s very sincere, and wants to do good. He’s admitted that himself. And that he tries even after what he went though is… commendable.” Byleth nods at Aschere’s words.

“I see…” Byleth trails off, but he’s smiling at Aschere.

“What?”

“Nothing… nothing.” Byleth says nothing for a moment, but then speaks up again. “And then there is the last of the Lordlings… Claude.”

“He’s…”

“Hard to read.”

“Yes. It certainly feels like he has his own agenda… as to what that is, I have no idea. I don’t think it’s malicious, however. Never get that kind of feeling from him.” Byleth just shrugs and get up from where the siblings are sitting. “Well, best get back to the training grounds… because Goddess forbid _we’re_ late.” Byleth grumbles something about Jeritza, and Aschere feels her face contort and a quick exhale. A strange sensation, but she doesn’t dislike it. Byleth stares at her.

“…did you just smile?” He asks with an incredulous look and tone.

“Uhh… I don’t know?” Byleth stares for a moment longer, before shaking his head.

“You really have changed,” he says as he leaves.

Has she changed? Aschere isn’t even that sure herself. She has noticed that she is bothered more by things, like what happened with Ashe and Lonato. Also, that she cares what others think about her…

…speaking of which.

“Birthday?” Byleth repeats back to his sister as they do monthly inventory. He puts another spear into the repair pile, before looking back at Aschere.

“Yeah, I kinda told my students that it was this month… because they wanted to know it.”

“You never cared about birthdays before.”

“Yeah, well… there’s a lot of things I never cared about before…” Aschere says, staring at the ground.

“Fine then. Why’d you pick the 20th of this month?” Aschere freezes at Byleth’s question and can hear giggling in the back of her head. Not now, Sothis.

“I-I dunno. I just picked it, okay! I’m only telling you so you don’t act surprised if my students wish me a happy birthday, okay!” Aschere pouts. Byleth just laughs.

“So, should I get you a birthday present?” Aschere just shakes her head violently.

“I’m not even expecting one from my students… I just didn’t want to see strange for not even knowing my birthday. It’s bad enough not knowing how old I am.”

Byleth shrugs. “Father’s never cared about ages, considering he doesn’t even know how old he is.”

“Have you ever wondered why?” Aschere’s question seems to catch Byleth off guard for a moment.

“Not really… but I suppose it is weird.”

“Maybe we should ask him sometime?” Aschere asks. Byleth thinks for a moment, then shrugs.

“Birthday?” Jeralt says almost in the exact same way as Byleth. Aschere just nods. “Hmm… you never asked about your birthday before.”

“I never cared about it before, but now I… guess I do?” Aschere doesn’t exactly know how to word it.

“I feel embarrassed to admit I don’t actually know when your birthday is.”

Aschere tilts her head. “You don’t?”

Jeralt sighs, “It’s… complicated. Let’s leave it at that.”

Aschere wishes he’d tell her something but doesn’t push it further. Much like Byleth, if her father wants her to know something, he will tell her. Otherwise, it’s a lost cause.

“Well, I hope you’re not expecting a birthday present from me. What with being informed it on such short notice.” Jeralt laughs and ruffles her hair. Aschere can feel the corners of her mouth lift, and she shakes her head. He is stopped in his tracks. “Did you… smile?”

“You sound like Byleth,” Aschere pouts, and Jeralt just ruffles her hair again.

Aschere had not expected the birthday present and letter on her desk. All she had expected was her students to wish her “Happy Birthday” and be done with it. She opens the letter first, which seems to be from Dimitri.

“Happy birthday, Professor. It isn’t much, but we got you a gift as a symbol of our gratitude. I hope you will accept it.” And then is signed Dimitri before the rest of the Blue Lion students in different handwriting.

The letter doesn’t indicate what the gift is, which she assumes is in the small cloth pouch. Lifting it and putting the pouch in her hand, it feels heavier than the small size of the object would entail. She assumes then it’s made of metal. Probably jewelry. She wouldn’t say she is necessarily a jewelry person, but a gift is a gift.

Taking the item out of the pouch, she sees it to be a brooch. Roughly coin sized and made of silver, it’s shaped like a lion’s head, in the style of the Blue Lion’s flag. It seems to be enamelled, to a rich royal blue. Well, this is nice. But, where to put it… thinking for a bit, she eventually settles on pinning it to the knot on the tassel to her medallion. Not in the way, but people can still see it.

**_Happy birthday to you as well, Sothis. And thank you for sharing it with me._ _“_** _A shame you can’t get me a gift. But think nothing of it, a birthday is useless to me in the state I am in.”_

When the students come for morning attendance, Aschere thanks them for the gift. She can see Dimitri noticing it, but then Sylvain whispers something to Dimitri and suddenly he’s keeping his eyes anywhere but her. It takes Aschere a second to realize Sylvain was teasing Dimitri about staring at her chest by accident. She often forgets men staring at her like that is wrong, since its so common for her. She just filters it out.

She contemplates telling Dimitri that it’s fine, but that would probably just embarrass him more.

A week passes, and the Rite of Rebirth has finally arrived. The monastery is very crowded, but there is also a noticeable tension in the air in the Knights. Obviously, the possibility of assassination is not wide-spread knowledge, and the Church is hoping to keep it that way.

Aschere goes to the Mausoleum early in the day, before the ceremonies begin with Dimitri and Dedue, and the others who volunteered for this plan slowly make their way to her. Ashe makes a surprise appearance as well, apparently convinced by Caspar to come. Because ‘it’s what a true knight of justice would do’. Claude and Hilda take a good hour to finally show up, at which point Claude proceeds to take charge.

“All right, all of you are here for various reasons, but so we don’t get in too much trouble, best listen to Teach,” he looks over at Aschere with a wink. She can hear Dimitri sigh behind her.

“Claude, can you try to take this seriously?” Dimitri says in response.

“I am taking this entirely seriously. But you might be taking this too seriously. Maybe lighten up a bit, it’s bad for your health.” Another sigh from behind Aschere. She can almost hear Dimitri’s eyeroll.

“Yeah, let’s kick some thief butt!” Caspar yells afterwards, quickly getting looks from everyone involved. He doesn’t seem to care, and Hilda just laughs.

“I’m surprised Lorenz didn’t want to come, considering how much talks about ‘a noble’s duty to the Goddess’,” Ignatz ponders for a moment. “Wait, no, it’s probably because this was Claude’s idea.”

“Very perceptive of you, Ignatz. Well, no matter, Lorenz and I’s…friendly conversations… would probably scare the thieves away, anyway,” Claude says with a laugh.

“I honestly don’t care if there are thieves or not, I just want to see in the Mausoleum. Can we go already?” Linhardt voices next.

“Come now, Linhardt. Should we not stand vigilance to keep thieves from entering at all?” Linhardt turns to Ferdinand, eyes narrowed.

“Why would I stand _outside_ the Mausoleum, when I could be _inside_ it?” Linhardt proceeds to yawn and walk through the entrance way before Ferdinand can reply. Caspar follows, with Ashe in tow.

“One would almost think Linhardt could care less about the possible presence of thieves,” Ferdinand says, shaking his head, and following his classmates. Claude just shrugs. Before the rest of students can enter the Mausoleum, rapid footsteps are heard coming towards them, and soon Lysithea is standing before them out of breath.

“Claude! If you think I’m going to let you go through with your stupid plan, you have another thing coming!”

“Hello to you, too, Lysithea,” Claude says with a smile.

“’Stupid plan’?” Dimitri asks Lysithea, wanting more information.

“I heard him talking about the possibility of there being relics in the Mausoleum, and he sounded way too interested in them for someone just trying to ‘protect’ them.”

“You wound me! Can’t a man be curious as to what thieves would be after?”

Claude earns glares from both Dimitri and Lysithea. Claude shrugs them off with a laugh before entering the Mausoleum, with Hilda close behind.

“Professor, I think we should keep an eye on him…”

“Probably. Are you coming as well, Lysithea?” Aschere asks.

“Huh? Oh… well, it would be wrong for me to just let Claude do whatever it is that he’s trying to do, so I guess I will…” Aschere can see Lysithea’s eyes go back and forth. “It’s not dark in there, is it?”

“I don’t know. But you should stay near me regardless.”

“R-right! Lead the way, Professor!”

Entering the Mausoleum and joining with the other students, Aschere is surprised to learn how big the space is.

“Its… umm… darker than I thought it would be…” Ashe says uneasily. Aschere can see Caspar pat him on the back. Taking the lead, Aschere leads the students deeper into the room. She stops them, as she can hear voices.

“How much longer is this going to take?”

“Why don’t you try undoing the seal, since you seem to think you can go faster…” The man speaking sighs. “I’m on the last ring of the seal, give me twenty more minutes.”

“What are they doing?” Dimitri asks with a whisper. Claude peaks around the corner of the wall, seeing into the large open space of the tomb. There are mages in white clustered around a casket near the back. He relates this to the others.

“That must be Seiros’ tomb,” Ignatz concludes.

“Why are they after the casket of Saint Seiros? Do they intent to steal her bones?” Dimitri ponders.

“Well, we can’t let them get away with it!” Caspar responds, far too loudly. Everyone tries to shush him, but it’s far too late.

“Who’s there?” A man calls out. Aschere can see Linhardt pinching his brow.

“Get ready,” Aschere says to the students, before leading out to meet their attackers.

There are several knights, all wearing white, as well as mages. A mage stands at the furthest casket, which Aschere assumes to be the one trying to undo the seal. Aschere, Dimitri, and Dedue meet knights head on, and Aschere watches as Caspar runs ahead to attack one of the mages. Claude and Ashe are picking off and distracting as much as they can with arrows, while Hilda and Ferdinand are defending them from knights coming up from the sides of the Mausoleum. The space is huge, and there are pillars throughout it, so they can’t see exactly how many enemies there are. Linhardt is healing without prompt, and Lysithea is firing off spells while complaining.

“Way to go, Caspar!” Lysithea yells while Miasma-ing a mage who was seconds from firing a spell off at Caspar himself.

“Hey, we are gonna have to stop them anyway. I just sped up the process!” Caspar yells back while punching a man. Lysithea just groans in response. The group had made quick process in getting closer to the mage undoing the seal, before said mage calls out.

“Death Knight! Prove your strength and scatter these fools!”

There is a flash of light, which causes both Ashe and Lysithea to scream, and then between them and the mage is a knight who certainly took the “death” part of their title seriously. At least in appearance.

“I don’t take orders from you. Or waste my time with weaklings.” The man’s voice is strange, like he’s not a person. He raises his scythe-looking weapon, before pointing it at Aschere. While she doesn’t know why he would be targeting her, she can tell this knight is dangerous. “But I have orders from my master to make sure this mission is carried out.”

However, before Aschere can tell the students to not engage him, Caspar rushes forward.

“Caspar stop- “ Aschere can only call out as Caspar dashed forward, ready to strike the knight, only be swiftly cut down. She freezes time before Caspar’s head can fall from his body, and forces it back, to before Caspar charged forward.

“But I have orders from my master to make sure this mission is carried out.” The knight repeats to her alone, and in the corner of her eye she can see Caspar dashing forward, but before he can move far, Aschere lets off a spell right in front of him. The impact of it knocks Caspar onto his back, but he’s out of danger now.

“Professor, why did yo-“ Before Dimitri can finish his question, Aschere starts barking out orders.

“Linhardt, heal Caspar.” She turns to the rest of the students. “Do not engage with this knight, they are not to be taken lightly.

“How intriguing. You would attack your own allies to keep them from me?” Aschere has his attention. She raises her sword, challenging him, and he points his scythe back. She moves, never turning her back to the Death Knight, so that the students are no longer behind her. The Knight seems to be waiting for her to make the first move. Well, its either deal with this Knight, or they are dead, so she gives him what he wants, and dashes forward. The knight is fast; far faster than his armour or choice of weapon would guess. She must dodge last second to avoid the scythe and attempts to counter attack lower. She is parried and knocked back.

He doesn’t wait for her to make the first move again, charging at her fast enough that she doesn’t have time to dodge and is forced to parry. She can feel her arm nearly give out from blocking, the knight is stronger than her. She manages to slip out of the blow and dodge to the side before he overpowers her. She can’t let him do that again. She dodges several times, trying to stay clear of her students. She can’t let him near them, she can’t let his focus change.

She is unused to the smooth stone beneath her feet and slips during a dodge. She can see the scythe coming for her, and briefly contemplates rewinding before-

“Professor!” She hears, and Dimitri in now in front of her, blocking the scythe with his lance. Dimitri is strong enough to fully parry and push the knight back. Aschere is now in the space between the knight and the mage. The Death Knight’s attention is now on Dimitri. She hears a sound like glass breaking and turning around she can see that the mage has finally undid the seal. The man pushes the lid off and pulls out not bones like one would assume, but a sword. Well, she isn’t going to let there be another person with a weapon join this mess, so she dashes for the mage.

While that is happening, Claude makes a sprint for Lysithea, who has finished off the last of the mages in the room.

“Lysithea, you remember that spell you were working on last week? The one using both White and Black magic?”

“What? This isn’t the time to ask me about-“

“Use it on that guy.”

“Huh? But I still haven’t gotten it to work properly!”

“If there’s anyone in Fodlan that can mix magic types, its you.” Lysithea stares back at Claude, before readying the spell. Glyphs manifest in front and below her, and as Dimitri parries another blow from the Death Knight, a sphere of light manifests above the knight, before pouring light down on him. The knight is stopped in his tracks.

Aschere dashes at the mage, slicing her sword at him. The mage attempts to parry her blow with the sword he picked up, but is clearly unused to handling one, and she knocks the sword up and out of his hand. It lands next to her. The mage panics and readies a spell instead. Aschere grabs the strange sword and feels it warm in her hands. The spell fires off, and she easily blocks it with the sword. It glows. The mage panics again, and the last thing he sees is the glowing sword slashing down at him.

Now that the mage is taken care of, she whirls around in time to see Lysithea’s spell hit The Death Knight. She has no reason to think it would work, because why would it, but she points the sword towards the knight, and commands it to hit him. And watches as the blade breaks apart, tied by a red glowing thread, and does what she asked. It hits the knight in the chest, knocking him back. His armour may have cracked.

The knight’s head turns to Aschere. “Well, I did not expect to find a good fight here today, but I was certainly surprised. We will meet again.”

And with a flash of light, the knight is gone. The students turn to the professor and see her holding what certainly looks like a Relic weapon, and it glows brightly in her hand.

“So, that dusty old book I found was right,” Claude says. Several turn to him, questioning in their gazes. “The Church did have Nemesis’ sword.”

Aschere looks at the sword in her hand, and at the strange hole in the center. Her chest burns, and the world spins, and the last thing she hears is Sothis crying out in pain in her head.

_Her Children grew in number. They grew in power as well._

_The Children of the Earth saw them as Gods._

_And through their power, those of the Earth and Sky prospered._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lysithea hasn't learned Death Spikes yet. Not that I had the Death Knight riding a horse indoors, because that's stupid.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> aftermath of Rite of Rebirth, and Aschere catches a feeling

Aschere opens her eyes to the both familiar and unfamiliar place where Sothis’ throne sits. Looking over to said throne, Sothis sit upon it, holding her head.

“Are you all right?” Aschere asks, and Sothis looks up at her.

“What are you- oh, you must have passed out.” Sothis seems lost in thought.

“What happened? One moment I was attacking that weird knight, and the next it felt like my chest was burning.”

“I don’t know, but I could feel it as well. As clear as if my own body was pierced through.” Sothis pauses to think again. “It must have something to do with whatever it is that links us. But, whatever could that sword have to do with it?”

Aschere doesn’t know. All she knows is she feels strange. Like the whole world is collapsing around her. Like… like existence itself is suddenly a thing, and she can feel it. It is bizarre, and she wants it to stop.

”As well, what was this sword doing inside of a tomb? I suppose if one wished to hide it, a grave is certainly a place to put it…” Sothis just grabs her head and groans in frustration. “This is ridiculous! We learn something new, and it just gives more questions!”

“Sothis?” Aschere asks.

“Hmm?”

“Did that sword feel familiar to you?”

“I…” Sothis pauses to think. “I suppose it did. Hmm… perhaps the sword is a key to learning about who I am.”

“I doubt we will be allowed to examine it again, though.” Aschere sighs.

“You are probably right. Although, Rhea seems to be fond of you, so maybe she will let you if you ask nicely.”

That feeling of bubbling comes again, but the feeling comes out fully, and Aschere can’t help but giggle quietly. So, that’s what that feeling was. Laughter.

The edges of her vision begin to fade, and the feeling of being somewhere else begins to consume her being.

“Ah, you are waking up. Hopefully your little ones are all right.” Aschere nods at Sothis before she fades from her vision completely.

Aschere rolls over in her bed, before slowly blinking the sleep from her eyes. Fully opening them, and having her vision focus, she can see that she is not her room, but in Manuela’s infirmary. She sits up, body feeling stiff, and looks around. She appears to be alone currently. However, she can feel a presence in the room, and turning towards it, leaning against the wall is the strange sword from the Mausoleum. What is this doing here?

She shifts over, leaning towards it. Hesitantly, she reaches out her hand to touch it, worried it will make her chest burn again. As her finger grazes the surface, it feels warm to her touch, but the reaction she had before is missing. She grips it fully, putting it towards her, and then sitting up in the bed, she looks over the sword.

She can’t identify what it is made from. It feels like metal in weight, but the feeling in her hand is completely foreign. She remembers what she did with the sword against the knight, how the sword broke apart. Gripping the hilt, she wonders if she can make it do that again. The sword bends to her will, quite literally, and falls to pieces. There is a glowing red thread connecting them all. With a thought, the sword snaps back into place. Curious.

She hears a noise and looks up to see Byleth staring at her from the doorway.

“Oh good, you’re awake.”

“How long was I asleep?” Aschere asks Byleth.

“Most of the day.”

“What happened after I passed out?” She asks next, worried for the students. She has no idea if there were any mages or knights left in the Mausoleum.

“Well, when I heard there was an attack in the Mausoleum, I ran as fast as I could. Some of the other Knights went as well, like that Catherine woman. By the time we got there, we found you unconscious surrounded by the students you went with, and all the enemies either dead or knocked out. The students filled in the rest of the blanks.”

“Did they find the masked knight? I think one of the mages called him ‘Death Knight’.”

“No. Seemed he warped out of the monastery.”

Aschere frowns. She knows that Warp has a limited range, so wherever the Death Knight had gone to couldn’t have been _that_ far.

“I should probably tell father you are awake. And the students.”

“The students are worried about me?” Aschere asks. Byleth looks at her incredulously.

“Of course they were worried about you. Dimitri looked nearly beside himself. And Dedue left those,” Byleth points to the stand near the bed, to a small vase with flowers. Aschere feels herself smiling. She turns to see Byleth with a raised eyebrow, but he continues. “Last I heard, Rhea was sentencing the thieves that lived. Apparently, they’re all from the Western Church. I don’t know much beyond that.

“Why is this in here?” Aschere asks, holding up the sword. Byleth just shrugs.

“Dunno, Rhea just said it was to stay near you. Seteth nearly threw a fit, but Rhea shut him down fast. It’s apparently a Relic?”

“I see…” Aschere doesn’t know what to think of Rhea letting her have the sword, but decides it a topic for later, and moves to get out of bed. Byleth leaves so Aschere can get dressed.

By the time Aschere is putting on her coat, she hears a knock at the door.

“Enter.” She calls out. She looks over at the strange sword and decides to loop it through her belt for now. She feels surprisingly comfortable with it at her side.

Looking at the door, she can see several of the students who had joined her to the Mausoleum, lead by Dimitri and Claude.

“Professor! I’m glad to see you are okay.” Dimitri is the first to say. She can see Dedue nodding behind him.

“Yeah, one second you were whipping that sword around like some sort of legendary hero, the next you were collapsed on the floor,” Claude says next. “What happened?”

Aschere shrugs. “I don’t know.” She decides to not mention the burning in her chest. She figures she has enough issues with not having a heartbeat, she doesn’t need to worry people more.

Linhardt is looking her over, although more specifically at the sword on her hip. “You seem to be alright holding the sword now.”

“It feels fine now, other than warm.”

“Hmm… the sword is warm in your presence, interesting…” Linhardt trails off, mumbling something under his breath. The other ignore it.

“But, man, Teach. I would have never guessed you were a descendent of the King of Liberation.” Claude says next.

Aschere just tilts her head, confusion plain on her face. Who?

“Oh, I do believe I remember Jeralt saying you grew up out of the influence of the Church. Though, strange that you are this ignorant of the teachings…” Dimitri shakes his head before continuing. “Nemesis, or the King of Liberation, was an ancient king of Fodlan. The Goddess blessed him with great power, and a relic known as the ‘Sword of the Creator’. However, it seemed that the power corrupted him over time, and he became a great tyrant. It was Saint Seiros that eventually defeated him.”

“I see… and why does Claude think I am a descendent of him?”

“Because you were able to wield that sword. I saw it glow. Which would mean you have the right Crest.”

Aschere just looks at the sword at her side.

“I don’t know anything about that. Maybe I am a descendent, I have no idea.”

Claude’s eyes narrow, but he says nothing more.

“Yes, yes, I’m sure you are all glad Aschere is all right, but please stop blocking the entrance to my infirmary,” Manuela’s voice calls out from behind the cluster of students. Several give sheepish looks before bidding Aschere goodbye. Linhardt starts asking if he can look at the relic sword but is dragged away by Hilda and Lysithea. “Oh, Aschere?”

“Hmm?”

“Lady Rhea said she wished to speak with you once you awoke. And bring the sword,” Manuela finishes before making the bed that Aschere was sitting it. For a moment, Aschere questions how Manuela can manage to keep her infirmary spotless, but her own room is a disaster. Certainly a mystery.

“Well, we should let you get to that,” Dimitri says with a bow, and moves to leave.

“I’ll figure out your secrets eventually,” Claude says before Dimitri grabs him by the shoulder to make him leave. Now the only student left is Caspar.

Aschere stares at him for a moment, remembering the events in the Mausoleum. When Caspar died. When she attacked him to keep that from happening.

“Oh, Caspar… uhm, forgive me for attacking you in the Mausoleum, I-“

“What? No, I wanted to thank you for saving my butt. I saw how you fought against that Death Knight, I wouldn’t have stood a chance. Even Dimitri could barely hold that guy back.”

Aschere doesn’t know what to say back to him, and just continues to stare with wide eyes.

“It was amazing that you could read the battle that well to stop me like that.”

“So, you’re not mad that I hurt you with magic?”

“Not at all!”

“A-All right. Are you all right now?” Caspar nods enthusiastically.

“All this just reminded me of how much more I have to do to become stronger,” Caspar scratches behind his head, seeming almost shy for a moment, “and that I need to pay attention in tactics more, clearly.”

Aschere, again, has no idea what to say. Caspar thanks her again, before taking off. Aschere figures its time to go to Rhea.

_“He was quite impressed with your skills,”_ Sothis says within her mind. **_It wasn’t skill, they only reason they don’t know how bad it could have been was because of your power. _**_“And you used it wisely. You saw what had came to pass and corrected it. That the mortal mind cannot comprehend it is not your fault.” **What do you mean by that? ‘Mortal mind’? **“It’s… hard to explain. The best way to put it is that there are those who would be able to see your actions before and after you turn back time.” **…like Byleth? **“Yes, I suppose like your brother. Why he has this ability, I do not know.”_

More things to think about.

“I cannot thank you enough for defeating those invaders in the Holy Mausoleum, and especially for protecting the Sword of the Creator.” Rhea says to Aschere as their meeting begins. Seteth is also in the room, standing next to them.

“The ‘Sword of the Creator’?”

“Yes, it is one of the Heroes’ Relics, and the most precious artifact in the church’s possession. And a weapon of terrifying power.”

Aschere wants to know what Rhea means by that…

“And the sword of Nemesis?” Aschere asks.

“Ah, so you do know that story?”

“Well, Dimitri filled me in earlier,” Aschere admits.

Seteth sighs, “I am still vehemently against giving the Sword of the Creator to someone as untested as Aschere. Lady Rhea, how can you be so sure that she won’t fall to the same darkness as Nemesis?”

Rhea looks at Seteth with a look that Aschere does not understand, before looking back at her.

“I know that Aschere will not be corrupted by wickedness. After all those long years of being sealed away, the sword has returned and found a new master. I know that Aschere will use it wisely.”

Seteth huffs, “See that you do not betray the trust the archbishop has seen fit to bestow upon you.”

Aschere nods and is dismissed.

_“I still do not understand why Rhea would leave this ‘Sword of the Creator’ with you. The sword is clearly precious… so why is she so keen to gift the thing to you? She even left it at your bedside while you slept! Quite frankly, it’s bizarre.” **I agree.** _Sothis sighs, _“I feel as though we have become entangled in a mystery… And there is one more thing that has been bothering me. The Sword of the Creator… it is quite distinct from the other Relic we have seen.” **You mean Thunderbrand?** “Yes, wield by… oh goodness, what was her name? Ca… Cat…” **Now who can’t remember names? **“Oh, shush you, it’s on the tip of my tongue…Cat…” **Catherine?** “Yes! The Sword of the Creator is distinct from hers in one key way. It bears a hole… where something should have been but is no more.” **How can you be certain that there was something there?** “I do not know how I am certain, but none the less, I am certain. Something once filled that hole, and now it is gone.” _Sothis groans in frustration. _“I despise not knowing what is going on! It… it frightens me. And yet… I place my trust in you. I must.” **I will try to not betray that trust.** “As long as the path you forge is your own, you will not.”_

As Aschere finally leaves the audience chambers, she is cornered by Hanneman, who insists that she come to his laboratory. Aschere is confused but resigns to going along. She figures it has something to do with her Crest.

“Aschere, I have heard much of you lately,” is the first thing Hanneman says to her once in the lab.

“I am certain,” Aschere responds with.

“Specifically, that you were able to awaken the Sword of the Creator’s power. Thusly, it seems the true nature of your Crest has been uncovered.”

“Has it?”

“Yes! I had, of course, seen your Crest before. However, at first, I failed to recognize its true nature. Eventually, it dawned on me that what is visible is perhaps merely a small part of a greater whole. In other words, your Crest is too significant to be detected when using normal instruments.”

“I see…” Aschere manages to get in as Hanneman continues.

“After this discovery, I began researching Crests that might fit the description, which allowed for a temporary hypothesis. However, I could not be certain. The Crest my conclusions led me to was far too unusual. A Crest thought to have disappeared from this world in the millennium since the fall of Nemesis, the King of Liberation. The Crest of Flames. That is what you possess.”

“The Crest of Flames…” Sounds impressive.

“The fact that you can wield the Sword of the Creator is unequivocal proof of my hypothesis… a legendary power, dormant since time immemorial and now resurrected. There can be no doubt that this ancient power resides within you.”

_“I hope he is not referring to me as this ‘ancient power’! How rude!” _Aschere has to hold back the laugh that nearly comes out, and she starts coughing as a result.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Good, good. Now, although I may have found out one mystery about your Crest, another remains. Why has it manifested now? Why have there never been reports of it before? And, does this mean something for how your brother’s Crest appears blurred? Many more hypothesis to test…” Hannamen continues talking to himself, and Aschere decides it would be best to leave.

Between classes and lectures, Aschere starts spending much of her free time training with the Sword of the Creator, to be able to use it fully. Although, she finds using the sword comes quite naturally to her, as if she had been using it her whole life. She doesn’t know if this is normal for relics. She even tries sparring against Byleth while using the sword, but quickly determines it to be a terrible idea. The sword seems to react with her own mood, as when she started becoming more invested on beating her brother, she cut clean through the head of his axe. Now she owes him a new one.

Catherine stops by at one point, as she had heard that Aschere was training with her Relic.

“I see you’ve become quite accustomed to it already.”

“What do you mean?” Aschere asks Catherine.

“I heard how you passed out the first time you used the Sword of the Creator. Let me tell you, the first time I used Thunderbrand, it was like having the wind knocked out of me. Using it for too long still tires me out.”

“Oh, I see.” So, Relics causing issues like that is normal? Although Aschere hasn’t noticed the Sword of the Creator tiring her out any more than normal swordplay does.

Thunderbrand and Catherine prove a better sparring partner for testing the Sword, and sparring with Catherine becomes a common occurrence. Many of the students come to watch these matches, as well as some of the Knights of Seiros. A common spectator is Shamir, a Knight whom Aschere has only seen a couple of times around the Monastery. Shamir spends most of her time commenting on errors in Catherine’s form.

Using the Sword of the Creator quickly becomes like second nature. But, the most marked change in Aschere has been her behaviour, at least from Byleth’s perspective. Aschere finds herself agreeing with him.

Aschere finds herself enjoying things more, like tasty food or a good training match. She got angry at Felix for repeatedly pestering her to spar with him with the Sword, snapping at him that she refused. It caught Felix, Byleth, and Aschere off guard from her outburst. And she finds herself enjoying the calming properties of watering flowers, or fishing, or from a nice cup of tea.

The strangest change is something she can’t put a name to and feels reluctant to ask anyone about. On one of her free Sun Days, Dimitri came to her asking for more insight on battalion formations. She was more than happy to help him and offered to help him over tea.

“I never would have guessed you to be a tea drinker, Professor,” Dimitri comments as she pours him tea in the courtyard.

“I will admit, until I came to the Academy, I very rarely drank anything with true tea leaves. Too expensive.”

“I see. By your use of ‘true tea’, then I assume you drank a lot of herbal teas, then?” Aschere nods to Dimitri.

“Wild herbs are easy enough to find, and dried herbs are cheap.”

“I don’t deny that. I, myself, am rather partial to Chamomile tea.”

“Oh? I will have to remember that. I’ve always enjoyed Mint.” For some reason, Dimitri smiles at her words, and his smile makes her feel… strange. Like something fluttering in her stomach. She ignores it, thinking it to be nothing, and continues with going over battalion formations.

“Thank you, Professor, I think I understand better now,” Dimitri says an hour later, and Aschere’s teapot fully drained. Aschere just waves her hand in dismissal.

“You don’t need to thank me, helping you understand is my job, is it not?”

“I suppose you are correct, but that does not mean I can’t be thankful for it.” He smiles at her again, and that strange feeling happens again. She wills it away. “As well, I have been meaning to thank you properly for your help in teaching those children. If you will allow me to properly express my gratitude, I’d like to take you to dinner.”

“To dinner?” Aschere tilts her head.

“Yes, I’ve seen how much you seem to enjoy food, I thought it would be an appropriate thank you gift.”

Aschere nods. “Very well, then.” She questions why she is excited about going to dinner with Dimitri, but she’ll contemplate that later. “Are there any other questions you’d like answered before we are done?”

“There was… one question I’d like to ask. Though, its not much related to battle formations.”

“What is it?”

Dimitri seems hesitant at first, but eventually continues. “Were you reconciled with the reality of battle from your first foray? With… the killing part, I mean.”

Aschere tilts her head in thought. She has certainly never thought about it much before. It was a part of her job, and even before she and Byleth ever started doing jobs with their father, people dying and being killed was just a natural part of their lives.

“I suppose… I never got the chance to question it before. That is not to say I enjoy killing, but it’s hard to have strong emotions to killing when your livelihood is tied to it.”

“I… see.” Dimitri responds with a frown, and Aschere feels like she answered his question wrong. “In comparison, I do not carry that burden well. I doubt that will change, no matter how many years come and go. When I led my first battle and saw the dead afterwards… all I could think about then was how in dispensing what we call justice, we take the lives of cherished family members. Beloved friends.” Dimitri bites his lip before continuing. “I realize killing is part of the job, but even so… There are times when I’m chilled to the bone by the depravity of my own actions.”

Aschere shakes her head. “I think it’s a good thing you feel that way. You are to be the King of a nation, and if the King does not want to end lives unnecessarily, then they will think twice before starting a war, don’t you think?”

“Perhaps you’re right… I pray that you are.” Dimitri seems to hesitate for a moment, before speaking again. “Professor, may I speak freely?”

“Of course.”

“When we first met, I thought of you as someone who felt nothing about killing your enemies. You fought with a seemingly cold efficiency that it was almost terrifying.” Aschere frowns at his words, but he continues. “I could never trust someone who kills without batting an eye. My heart won’t allow it. But, I remember what you said to me when we were dealing with Lonato’s rebellion. ‘Are knights and soldiers not also fathers and sons?’ Someone who thought nothing of killing wouldn’t say that. And talking with you now… I know, with all my heart, that I can trust you.”

The fluttering in Aschere’s stomach travels to her chest. It is a bizarre feeling that she doesn’t even begin to understand, and it is only made worse looking at Dimitri’s face. So, she resorts to looking at her empty tea cup.

“I-I’m glad that you can trust me.” Hearing that he trusts her is not something she expected. She lived her life as a mercenary. Her trust was meant to be bought. That someone like him would trust her is…

“Well, I have taken up enough of your time, I am sure,” Dimitri says as he stands from the table.

“It’s no trouble at all, I… uhm… I look forward to dinner with you.” Is she sounding too eager? What is wrong with her?

“Ah, yes. Is next Sun Day all right with you?” Dimitri asks. Aschere nods. As Dimitri leaves her view, she rests her face in her hands, wondering how she is going to get through dinner if she is acting like this around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aschere don't know how emotions work, but she's got them now


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth chapter

Byleth has certainly noticed the difference in his sister. All his life, Byleth has been able to feel the emotions of others. They are as present to him on a person as any of their features. Aschere constant presence is that of regularity. She felt the same in the heat of battle as she did when sleeping. It’s what he was used to.

The first change came a couple months before the encounter with the young Lords. A presence to Aschere, separate from her own. It was faint, but it was there, easy for him to feel against the even disposition of his sister. Even now, the presence is still there, stronger and wholly distinct. Like a second person lives within his sister. Does this presence have something to do with Aschere’s awakened emotions?

Ever since coming to the monastery, Aschere began to react to things like a normal person would. It was slow at first; having what felt like enjoyment out of tasty food, happiness out of seeing her students do well, feeling sadness over the incident with Lonato, and a feeling that he cannot even begin to describe when she came back from the Red Canyon.

There was a marked change after the Holy Mausoleum. Like whatever held her emotions back was removed with her obtaining the Sword of the Creator. Now her emotions are no longer hidden in the background, only perceivable to him.

Although the biggest change he senses in his sister is how she is around the young Prince of Faerghus. A quiet and warm affection that she only feels around him. Although, he notices her confusion at the same time, so he assumes that she doesn’t understand what the feeling is.

To tell her what that emotion is or not… he’ll have to think about that. While it might be fun to watch her deny any sort of feelings towards young Prince, he doesn’t want to get her in trouble. He is aware of the problems of a teacher having affections for a student. He’d already had Seteth come to him, deeming Byleth’s interactions with Edelgard to be ‘inappropriate’. The urge to verbally bite Seteth’s head off was strong, but in the end, he managed to explain that he thought of Edelgard in a similar manner to Aschere. And then flatly asked Seteth if he thought his interactions with Aschere were ‘inappropriate’ as well. Or Seteth’s own interactions with his own ‘sister’. He could feel the apprehension coming off Seteth in waves from how Byleth says ‘sister’. Seteth doesn’t bother him again after that.

Edelgard is… hard to read at times. Byleth can feel the pain that lies just beneath the surface of her cool demeanor, but she very clearly does not want to talk about it. He thinks of the similarities between her and Dimitri, who also carries a lot of pain. However, the cause of Dimitri’s pain is very well known. The bigger question Byleth has is the rage Dimitri feels, past the pain. Unfortunately, he’s not able to ask either of them questions about their repressed emotions. He doesn’t think he ever will be.

Seteth tells Byleth that Jeralt wanted him and Aschere at the church graveyard. As for what, Seteth does not know.

It is there that the siblings learn that they do, in fact, share a mother. And their mother is buried in the church’s graveyard. Byleth had always assumed that he and Aschere have different mothers, and that Aschere was younger than him.

Not that they are twins.

“Then why did Alois remember me and not Aschere?” Byleth asks. If they are twins, then surely he would have seen both of them.

“Rhea… kept Aschere with her at first… before I left with both of you…” That doesn’t explain much to Byleth, but he knows how his father is. If he wants them to know something, he will tell them. Otherwise, good luck.

“What was our mother’s name?” Aschere asks instead. “The gravestone is worn down…”

“Sitri.”

“What was she like?

Jeralt laughs softly at Aschere’s question. “You remind me a lot of her, Asch. Especially with how you are now. But, you’ve always cared perhaps to much for others. And that’s a lot like your mother. Although, By’s sarcasm certainly came from Sitri.”

Aschere laughs at that. Byleth rolls his eyes.

“She loved flowers and spent much of her time in that greenhouse. Her smile when I’d bring her flowers from the places I went for missions was my favourite thing in the world.” Ah, so that’s why Jeralt would seem sad when Aschere would show him flowers she found, even if his face never showed it. “And while you both certainly look more like her than me, you both definitely have her eyes.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t just mean the colour. Both of you have always had a stare that was like you were staring into someone’s soul. Although, perhaps it’s always been more noticeable on Asch.”

“So, it was our mother’s fault that we were creepy children?” Byleth asks, not really expecting an answer. He doesn’t get one.

However, one thing their father does assure them is that their mother loved them more than anything. He doesn’t explain what that means.

While Aschere seems content with the information their father gave them, Byleth is not. He wants to know why Rhea is so fixated on Aschere. But he can’t exactly ask Rhea this. He asks older clergy around the monastery if any of them knew Sitri. Most say the same thing. Sitri was a nun of the monastery and was commonly at Rhea’s side. No one knows if she had a Crest, most were shocked to hear from Byleth that he is Sitri’s son. They hadn’t known she had children, only that she had died.

That no one questions how she died doesn’t sit well with Byleth at all.

Byleth ends up learning something new about his sister, and from a person he would have never guessed.

“So…Byleth…” Claude says casually one day after training. Byleth looks at him, eyebrow raised in suspicion. Claude never speaks to him “casually”.

“…yes?”

“What do you know about your sister’s mother?”

“Other than she is also my mother, not much. Why?”

“So suspicious of me,” Claude says with a laugh. “I just find her name interesting.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. So, I happen to know… a few things… about Almyra. And in Almyra, the star of the Goddess, the Blue Sea Star? They don’t call it that there.”

“Oh? And what do they call it?”

“Well, in the Almyran language, it would be called “Ash-Shira”. Or, well, that’s one name for it. Sounds a lot like your sister’s name, yeah?”

“What are you getting at, Claude?”

“I don’t really know. I just found it interesting. Much like I found your sister having the Crest of Flames interesting. Buuut, I guess I’ve been bothering you enough, so I will make my leave. Bye!” Claude leaves before Byleth can say anything more.

Both Byleth and Aschere are brought to Rhea’s audience chamber midway through the month. Aschere is to be given another mission, and Byleth can accompany her.

“The Church has been asked by the Gautier and Fraldarius families to aid in dealing with some thieves in Kingdom territory,” Rhea tells them. Gautier and Fraldarius… Sylvain and Felix’s families. Byleth wonders what this is about.

“The thieves stole a Hero’s Relic from House Gautier—the Lance of Ruin. Their leader is named Miklan. He is apparently a disowned son of House Gautier,” Seteth fills in. A disowned son… Byleth wonders what the reasoning for that would be. Well, it probably has something to do with why Miklan stole the Lance of Ruin.

“Why was he disowned?” Aschere asks.

“I believe it had something to do with his lack of a Crest. Such happenings are fairly common within the Kingdom,” Seteth answers. Ah. Well, he had no idea the Kingdom took such stock in Crests.

“The Crestless cannot unleash the goddess’ power, even if they possess a Relic. Nonetheless, they are still capable of simply wielding those weapons,” Rhea says next.

“The Heroes’ Relics are immensely powerful weapons. We must meet this threat with adequate force. Unfortunately, as most of the Knight of Seiros are away from the monastery as of now purging the apostates of the Western Church, we must rely on both of you, and Aschere’s students.”

Both siblings tilt their heads, and Seteth continues.

“You wield the Sword of the Creator, which is more than capable of opposing any Relic.”

“And me?” Byleth asks.

“There will still be many thieves that will be dealt with. The students will need as many capable warriors as we can allow to aid them. We will also be sending another senior Knight with you as well.”

“And who is that?” Byleth asks. He assumes it _won’t_ be their father. Rhea seems keen on keeping Jeralt away from Aschere.

“Gilbert Pronislav, he has been with the Church for a few years now,” Seteth answers. Byleth has come across Gilbert a few times, but never really spoke to him.

“Neither of you have anything to fear,” Rhea says with a soft smile. “The Sword of the Creator is more than a match for any threat you come across.”

Somehow, Byleth doesn’t feel reassured.

After the meeting, Aschere goes to tell her students of their mission, and Byleth goes back to the training grounds. Edelgard is there, speaking to Jeritza. Although, as soon as Edelgard sees Byleth, she excuses herself and runs to him.

“Ah, Teacher, perfect timing. I was looking to getting in extra training.”

“Not interested in sparring with Jeritza?” Byleth asks, raising an eyebrow in question.

“Wha- While Jeritza is quite skilled, you are a better instructor in the use of axes,” Edelgard says defensively. He can see the light flush on her face.

“I was just teasing. I’m happy to spar with you.” Byleth can see her eyes light up, though she keeps the rest of her face composed.

“Excellent. Allow me to fetch some training axes.” And she runs off to the training grounds’ storage room.

Byleth is aware of her… affection… for him. It’s faint, like she is trying to deny it herself, but she can’t hide her own joy when he agrees to spar with her, or when he agreed to aid her in trying to find the possible passages in the monastery. Not that they really found any, but in the end, he doesn’t think Edelgard cared much.

While they spar, Byleth takes note on her improve fluidity in her motions. That she is wasting movements less. Again, her eyes light up at his praise. Although, he also sees her disappointment when he comments on similarities between Edelgard’s and Aschere’s fighting styles.

And while it might disappoint Edelgard to hear this, he can’t think of Edelgard as anything different than he thinks of Aschere. He’s not sure why he correlates them in his mind, perhaps because they feel similar in presence.

Not that Byleth has ever had interest in relationships beyond familiar ones. Much to the disappoint of many women and men he has come across in his life.

Well, if Edelgard’s emotions towards him become too strong for his liking, he guesses he’ll just have to let her down gently. He doesn’t want to break her heart if he doesn’t have to. After they are done sparring, Edelgard politely excuses herself, before exiting the training grounds. He knows she is going to meet with Hubert, he could feel Hubert’s presence the entire time they sparred.

Byleth just decides to take the few weapons that need repairing to the blacksmith, and then get something to eat. On his way to the marketplace, however, he runs into Dimitri.

“Ah, Professor,” Byleth can hear Dimitri call out to him.

“How many times do I have to tell you to call me ‘Byleth’?” Byleth can see Dimitri’s eyes widen.

“Forgive me… Byleth, I merely wish to show you due respect.”

“Leave the ‘due respect’ for Chere, I’m just guy who beats you into the ground and then tells you why you lost,” Byleth says with a smirk. He can see Dimitri attempting to hold back a laugh.

“You and your sister certainly have a similar sense of humour,” Dimitri replies with. Byleth just shrugs.

“Blame our father. Now, is there something you want?”

“Ah, yes. I heard you are accompanying our class on our mission this month. To deal with thieves in Kingdom territory. I wanted to say I am sorry that you are being dragged into the Kingdom’s petty squabbles. This should not be your burden to bear, but my own…” Dimitri trails off.

Byleth shrugs again. “A job is a job, and I am not one to complain about it. I assume you have already said this to Chere?” Dimitri avoids looking Byleth in the eyes. He guessed right. “And knowing Chere, she told you she was happy to help.”

“You certainly do know your sister,” Dimitri replies with.

“Of course.” Embarrassment is what Byleth feels from Dimitri now, and it makes him wonder a bit. Byleth thoughts, however, are cut off, when someone calls for Dimitri.

“Your Highness? Ah, it’s been ages!” A man with dark wavy hair calls to Dimitri, walking across the Entrance hall where they are standing.

“It’s been a long time! Two years, if I’m not mistaken.” Dimitri says excitedly at the sight of this man.

“Indeed, Your Highness. You’ve grown so much in those years. I hardly recognize you,” the man replies with. Byleth sees Dimitri look over at him and notice his confusion.

“Ah, how rude of me. This is Rodrigue, Duke of the Fraldarius territory, and an old friend of my father’s. When my father died four years ago, he looked after me as though I were his own son.” Ah, then Felix’s father, Byleth thinks to himself.

“Byleth Eisner,” Byleth says to Rodrigue.

“Eisner… are you the Professor of the Blue Lions, then? I believe my son has mentioned a ‘Professor Eisner’ from time to time.”

“That would be my sister.” Although he is surprised that Felix would be talking about Aschere. Or maybe it’s not that surprising, Felix challenges Aschere to duels on a regular basis.

“What brings you to the monastery, Rodrigue? Is it the thieves plaguing the Kingdom?” Dimitri asks Rodrigue.

“I’m afraid so. Those thieves are a problem for both Margrave Gautier and for my own territory.”

“Ah yes, I believe Rhea said the thieves were in Fraldarius territory,” Byleth comments.

“Yes, and they are mercilessly pillaging the villages of that area.” Rodrigue explains.

“Pro- I mean Byleth will be joining in this mission as well,” Dimitri says to Rodrigue.

“I thank you for your help then, and you as well Your Highness. You have our full support in stopping those dastards.” Byleth just nods to Rodrigue, and then excuses himself to finally finish his errand. Now he can finally eat.

That night, Byleth is restless and cannot sleep. He does what he usually does when he is unable to sleep and goes for a walk. Although, before it would usually be a walk in a forest, not around a quiet monastery.

He did not expect to find Edelgard in the courtyard in front of the classrooms.

“What are you doing up?” He seems to catch her off guard, because Edelgard lets out a shriek and clutches her chest.

“Byleth? Is that you? Don’t startle me like that.”

“Didn’t mean to. What are you doing here?” He asks again.

“I… couldn’t sleep. I thought a walk might clear my head.”

“Seems we had to same thought,” Byleth says as he sits next to her. The sky is clear, so the myriad of twinkling stars are above them.

“Next you will tell me you are also having nightmare…” Edelgard says, trailing off. She doesn’t look at Byleth when she says that.

“Nightmares?”

“Yes. Stupid, pointless dreams I can’t control. That I’ve had since I was a child.”

“I doubt most people can control their dreams. Although, if it’s something you have repeatedly…” Byleth says, before thinking. Does this have to something to do with the pain he feels below the surface? “What are they about?”

“My… childhood. But they are nothing you need to concern yourself with.”

“I can’t imagine what kind of childhood could be so terrible that you would have reoccurring nightmares about it,” Byleth says, and then feels disappointment in Edelgard. “I am not trying to dismiss what could have happened, I simply I have no concept of what could have happened.”

Edelgard stares for a moment, before speaking. “I swear, sometimes I think you can read minds.”

“It would make things easier if I could.”

Edelgard lets out a laugh. “Yes, I imagine many things would be easier if you could just know what someone was thinking…” She is hesitant for a moment, before speaking again. “I suppose I could tell you of what happened. But you must promise not to tell anyone. Not even your sister.”

“Very well,” Byleth responds with.

Edelgard takes a deep breath before she begins. “I dream of… my older brother, paralyzed, helpless… my older sister crying for help that never came… the youngest babbling words beyond meaning. I see my family dying slowly, waiting in the darkest depths for a glimmer of light. I once had ten siblings, eight older and two younger. Such a large family, and yet I became the heir to the throne. Do you know why?”

Byleth shakes his head.

“Every last one of them was crippled by disease or lost their minds or died. I was the only one left who could inherit the throne.”

“That’s terrible,” is all Byleth can respond with.

“Things kept getting worse. The darkness kept getting darker. In the end, I was the only one who survived. The nightmares are a reminder… to never forget. To never allow such terrible thing to happen again.”

“Again?”

“Even now, I’m the only one who can carry the weight of the Adrestian Empire. The future of the Empire… of everything… I… I’ve said too much.” Edelgard stares at her feet before getting up. “I’ve never told anyone about my past before. Please, forget I said anything.” As she walks away, she says without turning. “Sleep well, my teacher.”

Byleth can only stare and contemplate what he learned.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance of Ruin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 8 million years later, I actually update. Pretty stupid of me when I have several chapters in reserve still, but I want to finish a chapter before posting a chapter.

In the days leading up to the mission in the Kingdom, Aschere notices Annette repeatedly trying to go up to Gilbert, only to leave before speaking to him. After the fourth day of this cycle, Aschere decides to finally ask Annette what is going on.

Annette is hiding at a corner, watching Gilbert speaking with some other Knights, when Aschere goes up to Annette.

“Hello, Annette.”

“Bwah!” Annette looks like she nearly jumps out of her skin, and then immediately hides against the wall. In doing so, she turns around to see Aschere standing there. “Professor! Don’t scare me like that.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Aschere says before looking over at Gilbert who doesn’t seem to have noticed Annette. “What are you doing?”

“I…” Annette avoids Aschere’s eyes.

“Something to do with Gilbert?” Annette nods.

“I told you before, if you remember, about me looking for my father…”

“I remember…” Aschere trails off, thinking about how Annette described her father to her. It clicks at that point. “Is Gilbert your father?”

Annette nods. “But he’s been ignoring me. I know he knows I’m here, but he pretends like he doesn’t know me!”

“But you haven’t talked to him yet?”

“I’ve been trying, but… I don’t know what I would say to him.”

“Do you want me to talk to him?” Aschere offers.

“No! Absolutely not!” Aschere had not expected that answer from Annette. “I just…” Annette sighs. “This is something I have to deal with. Even if he wants to pretend like he doesn’t know me.”

“Are you sure?” Aschere asks. Annette nods, and Aschere figures she will leave it… for now.

Aschere had asked Sylvain is he was okay with potentially killing his brother. While Sylvain repeatedly tells her that its fine; he was an asshole, he was disowned, so Miklan isn’t really his brother anymore, Aschere doesn’t truly believe that Sylvain is okay. Byleth confirms her suspicions, and the two of them watch Sylvain repeatedly hit on girls in village below the monastery. Most of the girls are ignoring him, but if any girl responds to his flirting, he leaves immediately. He’s acting weird, even for Sylvain.

It’s a two-days trip to the Duchy of Fraldarius, with the trip being uneventful other than the night they stayed in Galatea. Ingrid’s parents were quite accommodating, although Ingrid’s father made Byleth quite uncomfortable at a point. He seems… a little too interested in who Byleth was. Though, as soon as he learned that Byleth was a mercenary turned weapons instructor, said interest seemed to evaporate. Ingrid kept apologizing for her father’s behaviour, to which Byleth just said it was fine and left it at that.

Both siblings decided it was better to not ask.

Felix is even more surly than normal, and when asked about it, Felix just responds with, “We shouldn’t be cleaning up messes my _father_ should be dealing with.” Felix doesn’t particularly care that they are dealing with someone with a stolen Relic.

The thieves are holed up in an abandoned tower in the South of Fraldarius, Conand Tower. Gilbert seems to well-versed in the history of Faerghus.

“This area was the site of a massive battle several hundred years ago. That’s when invasions from the north were at their peak. Back then, this tower was built for both surveillance and defense. It will be difficult to seize it.”

“Well, we weren’t expected an easy job,” Byleth comments.

“You’re very well informed, Gilbert. Please, tell us more.” Aschere notes the way that Dimitri says “Gilbert”. So, Dimitri is also aware that Gilbert is someone else. She glances back, seeing Annette’s expression…

“Well, I… Ah. You’re joking.” Dimitri just gives a small smirk to Gilbert before turning to Aschere.

“Professor, you saw the local villages. They were in a rough shape, no doubt because of the thief attacks. They’re not going to make it through the winter in that condition.” Dimitri’s eyes glance down. “If the thieves had taken up pillaging in order to survive, that would be deplorable… but understandable. But this… This is something else entirely. It looks as though they destroyed those villages purely for pleasure. No matter what their reasons may be, that sort of behaviour cannot be allowed. Ever.”

Aschere sees Byleth’s eyes narrow as Dimitri says those last words. The way that Dimitri said “ever” did have a certain about of rage in it. Now she is wondering what Byleth is feeling from Dimitri.

“Don’t bother losing your head over those lowlifes, Your Highness. It’s wasted effort,” Sylvain cuts in with.

“Sylvain… I know Miklan was disowned, but…”

“He’s no longer a member of House Gautier… or my brother. He’s nothing ore than a common thief.”

“Are you sure about that? It would be understandable to find this situation… well, regrettable, to say the least…”

“Regrets? Heh, you must be joking, you know we’re far past the point of regret,” Sylvain scoffs. Dimitri leaves it at that, and the Eisner siblings just look at each other.

“Let’s get a move on, already,” Felix calls out, already going ahead.

“We should get moving before that storm come upon us,” Gilbert comments, and the Blue Lions continue towards the tower.

Within the tower itself, there are few thieves on the lower floors. They can move through the tower with little resistance. Getting closer to the top, Aschere looks over at Byleth.

“Seems everyone’s at the top.”

“How many are there?”

“Dunno. They’re all bleeding together with so many.”

Aschere can see a few of her students with looks of question, not knowing what Byleth means by his words. However, none of them voice their questions.

The top floor opens into a hallway, with only one path to take.

“Be on your guard. Towers like these were built to funnel enemies,” Gilbert says as they advance.

“On the flip side, no where for them to run either,” Byleth says with a grin.

Moving further in, the hallway seems to have very few people in it. Gilbert explains the hallway would be built in a spiral, leading to a room at the end. That must be where Miklan is. Well, they will just have to trap him there.

However, halfway through the halls, they learn that there is another stairwell to the top. Thieves come from both this stairwell, as well as from behind them.

“It’s an ambush,” Gilbert yells.

“No shit,” Byleth comments back, before running back to deal with the oncoming attackers. Aschere has no desire to rely on the Sword of the Creator too much, but in the face of possibly losing students, she will concede to taking them out with the whip sword. She doesn’t care that she can rewind time. She doesn’t want to watch her students die. Byleth and Aschere deal with the enemies from the rear, while yelling Aschere yells commands to her students to deal with the forward enemies.

Dimitri also steps in to issuing commands, when Aschere is forced to round a corner, and is thus out of view. The only person who doesn’t outright listen to Dimitri is Felix, who runs ahead, literally jumping over enemies to kill a mage in the back.

“Good job, Felix!” Dimitri calls to him once they have cleared the thieves in the hallway. Felix simply turns and glares. Byleth and Aschere rejoin the students, and they press on. The hallway’s turns become tighter, so they assume they are getting closer.

Aschere feels unsettled. _“Ah, so you feel it as well?”_ Sothis calls out in her mind. **_Do you know what this is? _**_“No, but it has a feeling of familiarity to it. Strange, if this has something to do with the Relic, why did Thunderbrand not elicit this feeling?”_ Another question that neither of them have answers to. Aschere notices that Byleth seems uneasy as well.

“You alright?”

“Dunno. Place feels weird.” He feels it too? What could be going on?

There are no more side paths for thieves to ambush them from, so it becomes merely a job of dealing with those in front of them. However, the enemies in front of them are clearly of higher skill than the ones they faced earlier.

“Felix, don’t run ahead!” Dimitri calls out, which Felix ignores. A warrior with an axe rounds a corner as Felix approaches, and in trying to dodge the axe, he slips. Felix takes the axe to his chest.

The last thing Aschere hears before she rewinds time is Ingrid screaming Felix’s name.

“Felix, don’t run ahead!” Dimitri says again for the first time.

“Felix!” Aschere yells, which causes him to stop. The warrior with the axe rounds the corner, and Aschere blasts them with fire. “Perhaps listen to Dimitri.” Felix just grumbles before moving on.

Aschere feels a hand on her shoulder and turns to see Byleth looking at her.

“You’re the one doing that, aren’t you?” Aschere just nods. “How?”

“Complicated. I told you before, it’s not something I can easily explain.” Byleth’s eyes narrow at Aschere’s words.

“I assume this is a relatively new ability of yours?” Aschere nods. Byleth just shrugs at that point. “Well, if it keeps the whelps from dying.”

They press on.

Rounding another corner, and they finally reach the center of the tower, where Miklan is already having a conversation with Sylvain.

“Miklan, you know damn well you can’t wield that lance.”

“Shut up, you’re just a spoiled little brat who’s had everything handed to him on a silver platter his whole life.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Because of my damn Crest. You think I want this thing?”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up! You won’t get the lance back from me. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill all of you.”

“Charming fellow,” Byleth says flatly, as the siblings run to back up the students. Miklan seems to focus heavily on Sylvain. While Miklan is clearly a skilled warrior, his movements are laboured, like the lance weighs down in his hands. The lance still hits hard, however, leaving dents in the floor. They need to get it away from him.

While trying to think of how to get the lance out of Miklan’s hands, he continues to fight Sylvain, although he still must deal with the other students backing Sylvain up.

“I’ll kill all of you, I’ll kill all of you, I’ll kill all of you,” Miklan is nearly chanting, and the overbearing feeling of dread gets stronger within the tower. Byleth begins looking as if he is out of breath, the atmosphere seemingly taking a toll on him. Aschere needs to get that lance out of Miklan’s hands. Now.

Using the Sword of the Creator, she whips the blade at Miklan, aiming at the lance. He blocks it a few times, but Aschere continues her attack. Eventually, she manages to get the blade to wrap around the shaft of the lance. Red sparks dance along the lance and the sword, before knocking Miklan back.

He still has the lance.

“Not bad for a bunch of spoiled brats,” Miklan says before the lance starts to glow. Byleth immediately clutches his head.

“Byleth? What’s wron-“ Aschere doesn’t get the chance to finish her sentence, as a sickening noise comes from the Lance of Ruin. Black tendrils pour from the stone in the center, grabbing at Miklan’s arm. Even as Miklan tries to rip them off, they merely stick to his other arm, and begin to consume his entire body. Miklan screaming in horror and pain, and the Blue Lion students can only watch in horror as the man is completely consumed.

And then a deafening roar comes from the black mass, and it takes shape. A black beast.

“A Demonic Beast? What is going on?” Dimitri asks in shock.

“Don’t ask me, the Lance of Ruin isn’t supposed to be able to do that.” Sylvain replies with.

The beast takes notice of the students, and looking at it straight on, the Crest of Gautier stares straight at them. The Lance is nowhere to be seen.

Byleth screams in pain, still clutching his head. “Make it stop, make it stop, make that thing stop!”

“What the hell is happening?” Felix asks, and no one has an answer.

_“Oh my, that form…” **Do you know of these things? **“I’m… I’m not sure. It feels familiar. You see the stone on its forehead. That is the source of its power. However, it will also the hardest part to attack. There is a magic that emanates from it, shielding its entire body from attack. You must weaken it before you can defeat it.” **How do you know this?** “Is this really the time to be asking such questions? Now go!”_

Aschere doesn’t think the students should be fighting a beast such as this, and charges ahead of them. The beast roars at her, seemingly reacting to the Sword of the Creator. Just as Sothis said, her sword bounces off when attempting to attack at the Stone.

“Annette, Mercedes! Concentrate magic at this thing’s limbs, everyone else, try to attack it from behind. Don’t let it corner you!” Aschere calls out, continuing to keep its attention. Dimitri and Sylvain comply with her orders, going for its legs, and Dedue manages a piece of the Beast’s tail off with his axe. The piece grows back.

“How are we supposed to deal with this thing if it heals itself?” Sylvain calls back. Her blows to the head are beginning to stick more.

“Keep attacking it, we need to wear it down before we can kill it.”

“How the hell do you know that?” Felix yells back, before sliding underneath the Beast, slicing at its limbs.

“Not the time!” Aschere just yells back, still trying to keep the Beast’s attention. Finally, the barrier protecting the Beast’s head gives way, and the Sword of the Creator’s tip pierces the Beast’s head. The Beast rears back in pain, and Aschere coils back the sword, but allows herself to go with it. As the beast stands on it’s hind legs and roars, Aschere removes her blade before quickly plunging it back into the Beast’s head, pulling the stone on its head back. Something like blood, but black, pours from the wound, and Aschere jumps off as the Beast continues to roar as it falls backwards to the ground. The black blood continues to pour from the Beast’s body, until it consumes the entire thing, and then it dissolves away. Only Miklan’s corpse and the Lance of Ruin are left.

Byleth staggers to his feet, no longer clutching his head. Aschere runs to him.

“Are you all right?” She asks worriedly.

“I’m fine. But what the hell was that? Every time it roared, it was like something was trying to claw at my skull.”

“I don’t know.”

“I had heard of Demonic Beasts before,” Gilbert comments, “but I had never seen one myself. They are supposed to be very rare. But, the beast Miklan changed into certainly fits the description of one.”

“’Demonic Beasts’…” Aschere says before trailing off. Sothis is quiet within her mind.

Sylvain simply stares at the Lance and his brother, before wordlessly picking up the Lance. It glows in his hand, far from the black mess that came from it before. He says nothing when he rejoins with the other students.

It’s time to leave.

Sylvain carries the Lance of Ruin with him back to the Monastery and won’t let anyone near it. Or him. Ingrid tries to talk to him, but she quickly realizes he doesn’t want to talk, and just sits near him, on the opposite side of the lance.

Sothis finally speaks to Aschere again about the incident.

_“It is like… like the Lance was swallowing that man whole. Understandable, Sylvain is quite upset.” **Yes, the fact that he would want to be anywhere near the lance after that is… **“It seems the Lance is calm when within Sylvain’s hands. I suppose it is because he has the correct Crest. But the idea that a Relic could change someone into such a monster if they do not own the Crest is…” **I know.**_

_“I can feel your thoughts as if they were my own. You worry that the Sword of the Creator would do that to you.” _Dammit. _“The Sword is calm in your hands, as if it were a part of you. I doubt such a thing would happen to you. It is like… it is like the Sword is truly an extension of you own being. Why else would such a large sword be a light as a feather in your hand?” **I suppose… but still… **“When have I told you something that is wrong? If I say that you will be fine, you will be fine. So, do not be so scared.”_

Aschere doesn’t want to admit to herself that Sothis speaks the truth, much of what Sothis speaks of tends to be right on the nose. But she also guesses that Sothis knows that is how Aschere thinks, if her own thoughts are not private to Sothis.

Aschere and Byleth meet with Rhea upon returning to the monastery, who is happy to see both are all right. She had already been informed about the Black Beast from Gilbert.

“Please see to it that you keep what transpired at the tower to yourself.”

“Are you kidding me?” Byleth spits out.

“Byleth!”

“A man turned into a monster, and you want this to stay quiet?”

“People would lose faith in the nobles should rumours spread of one using a Relic and transforming into a monster,” Rhea explains calmly, ignoring Byleth’s outburst. “All regions of Fódlan would fall into chaos. We must avoid that at all cost.”

“I think people have the right to know if the people ruling them can possibly turn into demons,” Byleth says back. Aschere doesn’t know what to say. She’s never seen Byleth this angry before.

“Be assured that the transformation that you saw was the result of someone unworthy and unqualified attempting to wield a Relic. A punishment for trying to use powers not allowed to them.”

“You mean his lack of a Crest, then?” Byleth asks back. Rhea nods. “So, Aschere won’t turn into a demonic beast, then?”

“Ah, so that is your worry,” Rhea says with a soft smile. “Rest assured, Aschere was chosen, and the Crest she possesses reflects that. She is worthy of wielding the Sword of the Creator, so there is no need to worry.”

“Very well, then,” Byleth says, but not sounding fully convinced.

“Now, I have been informed that the young heir to House Gautier is currently in possession of the Lance of Ruin.” Both siblings nod. “I will send message to House Gautier so they may have it returned to them, but for the time being, it may stay in his possession. It is the safest place for the lance to be, after all.”

“Right…” Byleth says, before bowing and leaving. Aschere bows as well, and quickly follows her brother.

“Byleth!” She calls out to him.

“I’m fine,” he responds with.

“Are you really that worried about me?” Aschere asks.

Byleth shrugs. “I’d hate to have to kill you.”

“And I’d hate to eat you,” Aschere says with a smile. Byleth rolls his eyes. “But I trust what Rhea said. The Sword have never felt like how the air around the Lance of Ruin felt.”

“What does the Sword feel like to you?” Byleth asks. Aschere thinks for a moment of how to answer.

“Like it’s a part of me.”

“I see… do see that it never truly becomes a part of you.”

“I’ll certainly try.”

Aschere finds Dimitri in the courtyard.

“Ah, Professor. Is your meeting over?” Dimitri asks when he sees her. Aschere nods, before looking him over.

“You seem tired. I imagine the mission took a toll on you.”

“Not as much as Sylvain, I’m sure.” Aschere doesn’t respond to that. “I’ve just been thinking about something.”

“Go on.”

“The possession of Relics and Crests has been highly valued in Faerghus long before the country was even founded. It is far from uncommon for someone to lose their ability to lead their house because they don’t bear a Crest. Just like Miklan. It happened to my uncle as well. The eldest child of my grandfather, and yet it was my father who was made King.”

Aschere had not known Dimitri had an uncle. Then again, she has never been that well versed in that of the nobility.

“All families whose bloodlines carry the Crests of the Ten Elites are much the same. But House Gautier takes it a step further, and absolutely requires an heir who possesses a Crest.”

Aschere tilts her head. “Why is that?”

“To that House, the power of Crests is a necessity, not a luxury. Their territory is the most northern of the Kingdom, and they have fought with the people of Sreng for generations to keep that land. The head of House Gautier is responsible for protecting that territory, and it is with the power of their Crest and Relic that they do so. And in return, the Margrave of Gautier has always held high position within the Kingdom.”

Aschere thinks for a moment. While surely the Crest and the Relic does give them an edge, an incapable warrior would still be ineffective at protecting their territory. The Relic cannot make up for one’s own skill.

“The Gautier must still be formidable warriors, Crest or not, to have held their territory for as long as they have.”

“I find myself in agreement. Ability cannot be measured by the possession of a Crest alone. And I believe Margrave Gautier was wrong to disinherit Miklan simply because he did not bear a Crest. Miklan clearly must have had skill as a general, considering the number of men he had under him.” Dimitri sighs at this point. “Still, there is always a reason for why such customs stand the test of time.”

“I suppose. Crests do offer people abilities that they cannot have on their own.” Aschere responds with. Dimitri nods.

“If Crests were not valued as highly as they were, then I’m sure a few of the bloodlines of the Ten Elite would have died out by now. And thus, the Relic made useless.” Dimitri sighs again. “This same argument has been made time and time again across the years. Both sides are at once right and wrong.”

“What do you think about the matter, Dimitri?”

“What do I think? Well, I don’t know if my opinion matters all that much…” Dimitri trails off.

“Of course your opinion matters. Perhaps most of all! You are to be King of Faerghus. You could actually change things.”

“I… I suppose you are correct. What I think is that those with Crests and those without should acknowledge the others’ strengths and learn to respect each other based on personal merits. And that doesn’t apply only to Crests. The same holds true for lineage, race, faith, ideologies… perhaps it is all too idealistic.”

Aschere shakes her head. “No, I think its wonderful that you think that way.” Dimitri’s eyes widen at her statement.

“I… I am glad you feel that way. I’m sure others would call me a naïve prince who knows not of how the world works, but… everyone has something that is unacceptable within them. I certainly do, and I’d wager you do as well.”

Aschere almost expects Sothis to pipe up at that statement, but she remains quiet.

“I wonder which is best, Professor… To cut away that which is unacceptable, or to find a way to accept it anyway…”

“Do you want me to answer that?”

Dimitri shakes his head. “No. I don’t think there truly is an answer to that question. Not one that can satisfy, at any rate. Now, I believe I have taken enough of your time rambling about my ideologies.” Dimitri bows. “Thank you for listening, Professor.”

_“I wonder what it is that the young Prince finds unacceptable about himself.”_ A question Aschere wants an answer to as well.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Duscar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why do I not post the chapters I have written already? I don't know, I have been stuck on one chapter for a while now. Also, I updated the twins' mother's name in the fic, since we know that now. Dedue's paralogue should have been a chapter in Blue Lions route only, and I changed the kidnapping to be something that happens near the end of the month, since that makes more sense then letting Flayn be kidnapped for the whole month. But, video games don't have to follow real world logic.

The Horsebow Moon comes, and with it the cooler weather. While the Blue Lion students don’t seem to mind (in fact, Dimitri and Sylvain verbally express their joy at the weather cooling down), Byleth and Aschere realize that they will be in the same place during a winter. And with Garreg Mach being in the mountains, the winter is no doubt going to be cold. Usually Jeralt would always take them south for winters, usually near Enbarr.

Aschere might have to invest in a better coat. Or actually wear pants. A bizarre concept for her, to be sure.

They are supposed to be preparing the students for the Battle of the Eagle and Lion coming at the end of the next month, which means Aschere required to give extra lessons on tactics to the heads of each of the Houses. Aschere finds herself in the library for much of her free time, trying to read up on tactics herself, especially for large battles. She has no personal experience of war.

Having classes of only Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude proves awkward, to say the least. Claude asks a lot of questions, and several she does not have an exact answer to. Almost like he is trying to get this reaction. But she is trying. Edelgard looks like she would rather be anywhere else, but she seems like she is listening. However, she mostly stays silent.

Unsurprisingly to Aschere, Dimitri tries to help her as much as he can, adding in his own experiences. Out of the three lords, Dimitri clearly has the most battle experience. Although, and Dimitri himself says as much, the reason for this experience is not something he would wish on either Claude or Edelgard.

  
  


It is a few days later that Dimitri and Dedue come to Aschere with a request.

There is news of an uprising in the Duscar region of Faerghus, and a request for aid was sent to both to Fhirdiad and to the Church. Dimitri wishes to go on the Church’s behalf, to try to limit the amount of bloodshed. To try to save the Dedue’s countrymen.

“There have always been many in the Kingdom’s army who believe the people of Duscar our foes, and hate them because of it. The incident in Duscar only served to let such people act out on their hatred.” Dimitri’s eyes downturn at his next words. “Father tried to bring peace between Faerghus and the people of Duscar, but…” Dimitri shakes his head. “I know for a fact that the Duscar are innocent of their crimes, and therefore I cannot allow them to be slaughtered.”

“Those left of Duscar will not easily give up on our homeland,” Dedue says. “But even if their rebellion is misguided, I do not wish for them to die.”

“I couldn’t help but overhear,” a voice interrupts the conversation. Turning to said voice, Claude stands near them, hands behind his head in an almost leisurely pose. “You are going to Duscar to keep the former inhabitants from getting themselves killed, yes?”

“Yes… why do you ask?” Dedue asks, expression questioning of why Claude is asking this.

“Mind if I tag along?”

“What for?”

“Ever since I heard about the Tragedy of Duscar, I’ve been curious of the place. And of the people.”

“Claude! This is not a matter to be taken lightly!” Dimitri yells back. “People’s lives are in danger, this is not the time to be trying to satisfy your curiosity.”

“I am quite aware of that. But, its much easier to learn about a people if they aren’t dead.” Claude replies with. “And I’m sure you could use all the help you can get in trying to stop the Duscar and your Kingdom’s army from clashing, yeah?”

Dimitri frowns, but eventually replies. “You are… correct in that. But, if you wish to come, you will have to ask Professor Hanneman for permission, as well as Lady Rhea. I only got permission for the Blue Lion house to take this endeavour as our month’s mission.”

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll be ready to help in no time at all.” Claude says with a wink before running off.

Aschere, Dimitri, and Dedue just look at each other, each surely wondering what just happened.

  
  


True to Claude’s word, he manages to get permission from both Hanneman as well as Rhea to aid in this mission. Dimitri voices his amazement at how fast Claude worked, but is also glad. For, the longer they take to get to Kleiman’s territory, the more people of Duscar will suffer.

“I didn’t expect you to bring others from the Golden Deer as well,” Dimitri says to Claude as they make the trip to the north of Faerghus. Of the Golden Deer students to join Claude, Leonie and Raphael coming isn’t too surprising. Claude stated that he made it clear to the Golden Deer that they would have to move fast and be ready to fight as soon as they got there. Ignatz and Lysithea are unused to horseback riding, and thus would most likely be exhausted from the trip, Hilda just didn’t want to go, and Marianne also wished to stay behind due to thinking she would be useless.

“I mean, I tried to tell her that her healing would be useful, but she wasn’t really listening to me at that point…” Claude comments later.

To everyone’s surprise, Lorenz offers his aid. It even gets a reaction out of Felix.

“I thought you hated Claude,” Felix says to Lorenz. “Why would you do something he asked for?”

“Now, now. Claude and I may have our… differences, but I found the subjugation of the people of Duscar to be abhorrent. There was absolutely no reason for the Faerghus nobles to punish an entire people for what a few did. And His Highness’ desire to try to right that wrong is exemplary of a King-to-be.”

“The only thing he’s gonna be is the King of Boars,” Felix ends with, leaving Lorenz with a confused expression.

  
  


It takes almost three days to reach the Duscar region, even with being able to change out horses due to Dimitri’s station. They do, however, manage to arrive before the main force of the Kingdom’s army. There is only a vanguard of Kleiman’s soldiers in place, and they seem to be more waiting for the main force before putting more pressure on the Duscar rebels.

The rebel forces have set themselves up within a canyon and have not pushed far into Kleiman’s forces. Yet.

“We need to stop the uprising before the main force of the Kingdom’s army arrives,” Dimitri concludes. As of now, there is only the vanguard made of Kleiman’s forces are in the area, and the majority of the Duscar fighters seem to be alive. However, they will be far outclassed by the Kingdom forces already in place and stand no chance against the main army. “We need to convince the Duscar to withdraw, somehow.”

“Can’t you just tell the Kingdom soldiers to leave?” Raphael says. “I mean, you are the Crown Prince, right?”

“I’m afraid the situation is bit more complicated than that,” Dimitri tries to explain.

“Raphael,” Lorenz cuts in. “His Highness has still not come of age, and thus the Regent, Rufus, rules in his place.”

“Yes… thank you, Lorenz,” Dimitri says with mild annoyance in his voice. Aschere can hear Claude holding back a laugh in the back. “As well, the Duscar are not likely to listen to any command I give anyway and would attack regardless. We need to stop bloodshed on both sides.”

“Well, then time to get to work!” Leonie says in response, ready to go.

“Your Highness, do not do anything reckless,” Aschere can hear Dedue say to Dimitri.

“I will be careful, I assure you,” Dimitri says in response.

  
  


The plan they come up with is they need to convince the leader of the Duscar forces to retreat. From Dedue’s description of Duscar warriors, they aren’t to give up easily. So, they will need to somehow get several soldiers to retreat _without_ killing them.

“What if we just knock them out?” Raphael says plainly, as if it is the most obvious thing in the world. Aschere, Dimitri, Dedue, and Claude just look at each other.

“That’ll probably work,” Claude responds with. However, they will still need to remove the unconscious from the battlefield for their own safety. And probably restrain them. Dedue points out the tall grass growing among the scrub.

“That grass is very tough, it can be used as a makeshift rope.” As if to see if his words are true, Ingrid and Sylvain pull up some of the grass, which comes up by the roots. Several students try to pull the grass apart, and if trying to pull several blades at once, none can break it.

Well, none but Dimitri, who gives a small bundle of grass a few good tugs only for them to snap between his hands.

“Well, as long as none of them have strength like His Princeliness, I think we’ll be good,” Claude comments. Dimitri just sighs.

The plan becomes attempting to knock the Duscar rebels unconscious and then restrain them until they can get to the General and… attempt to persuade him. Or knock him unconscious as well. If they have to attack them, however, Mercedes and Aschere will heal any injuries, but it would best that they try to keep injuries at a minimum. You can’t heal a limb back.

However, the Duscar rebels begin attacking at the Kingdom Vanguard while they were trying to figure out their strategy, so the situation becomes more urgent. They need to get to the rebel General before the Vanguard does, and still before the main Kingdom Army does.

Dedue is able to convince some of the Duscar to leave as they advance, but many of them attack at the students, thinking they are Kingdom reinforcements.

“Not that I blame them for thinking that…” Dimitri comments.

At some point, taking out rebels becomes a bizarre contest between Leonie and Raphael on how many they can capture. Dimitri is very impressed by Raphael’s control of his own strength and says as much. Raphael is just confused as to why one wouldn’t be able to control their own strength. Dimitri doesn’t comment further.

Aschere stays back, letting Dimitri and Claude take the lead. Experience for leading armies. Experience for next month. She is still watching carefully, to know if she needs to intervene… or perhaps use the Divine Pulse. She hopes she doesn’t.

The unfortunate nature of trying to stop the Duscar rebels is that some of them can’t be stopped by simply attempting to knock them unconscious. A rebel nearly manages to get a swing in at Ingrid while she was preoccupied with another, but Dedue pushes her out of the way, and manages to stop the other man’s axe. Dedue does not come out of this unscathed. Ingrid can only stare at Dedue as Mercedes rushes forward to heal his wound and Ashe runs in to try to restrain the man Dedue just knocked down.

Dimitri and Claude manage to get to the rebel General, who is shouting all kind of curses at the Crown Prince of Faerghus. The Vanguard takes notice of this, and sees Dimitri fighting, and is rushing to aid the Prince. With Dedue away, there is no one present who can convince the General to stand down.

“Knock the guy out, I’ll stall the vanguard,” Claude yells out, firing arrows at the Vanguard. The fact that they are being fired on causes them to stop.

“What the hell are you doing?” The General yells out at Claude as he continues to fight against Dimitri.

“In case you haven’t realized, Dimitri is trying to _save_ you from the Kingdom soldiers.”

“By killing my country men?”

“We have spared as many as we possibly could, they are further away, off the battlefield. If you would just listen-“ Dimitri is cut off again, and realizes the man isn’t going to listen. Using the shaft of his lance, he gets a good hit in behind the man’s head, and the man is finally knocked unconscious. Dimitri doesn’t have time to check for injuries on the man, they need to go. He picks up the man, throwing him over his shoulder, and shouts to Claude and the remaining rebels. “I have the General, we need to go. Now. All of you follow me.”

With their leader captured, but not dead, the other rebels seem to believe what Claude had shouted earlier, and follow Dimitri, with Claude following behind.

As soon Dimitri makes it back to where the rest of the students are, he sets the General down, before running off again.

“I am going to meet with the Vanguard, explain that the Duscar rebels are gone now. They _should_ listen to me now,” Dimitri yells as he runs off. Dedue doesn’t get the chance to run after Dimitri as he is still be tended to by Mercedes. Aschere looks over the Duscar general, and Claude goes and stands near Dedue.

“You know, Dedue. You’re pretty incredible,” Claude comments to Dedue.

“Why do you say that?” Dedue asks back.

“That you can even _stand_ to be around Dimitri, let alone serve him. I mean, Dimitri’s a pretty okay guy, but he’s still the Crown Prince of the country that murdered your family. Murdered your people. _I’d _certainly never be able to do what you are doing.”

Dedue is silent for a moment, looking at Claude, before finally speaking up.

“I hated His Highness at first. I wanted nothing to do with him. I had still been badly injured during the attack in Duscar, and His Highness still visited me daily. Despite his own injuries. Despite being ignored. Then one day, I asked him, ‘Why did you save me? Why didn’t you let me die with the rest of my family?’. Do you know what he said to me?”

Claude shrugs. “I dunno, that you didn’t deserve to die?”

Dedue shakes his head. “No, he said ‘I needed to save someone. I didn’t care who.’” Claude’s eyes widen at that statement. “He didn’t save me for any particular reason. But, for some reason… that comforted me. He didn’t save me for any noble reason. It was more a compulsion than anything else.” Dedue looks around at the Duscar rebels recovering around him. “His Highness is far too kind for his own good.”

“Yeah, he is kind of a soft-hearted sucker, now isn’t he,” Claude replies with.

“I think he might be too kind to be king. But, His Highness will try in the very least.”

Claude slaps Dedue on the back, which startles Dedue with how sudden it is. “Yep, you’re pretty incredible. Maybe I’ll do you a favour and try to teach His Kingliness how to be more of an ass.”

“Please don’t.”

“Just a suggestion.” Claude laughs.

Dimitri returns after a while, stating that the Vanguard has retreated back to their base, but they are still looking out for possible attacks. Shortly after Dimitri returns, the Rebel General comes to.

“Why save us?” The General asks, looking only at Dedue. He ignores the presence of the other students, and of Dimitri.

“Because I will not stand for the pointless death of my people,” Dedue responds with.

“You must know that as long as there is breath in me, I will fight.”

“I am aware. But even you must know that your numbers will not suffice to stand against the Kingdom’s armies. I am not here to end your life. If you wish to run yourself against the Kingdom’s spear even now, I will not stop you. But know that His Highness also wishes for an end to the pointless bloodshed.”

“Idealistic fools. Both of you!” The General is now shouting at Dimitri as well.

“You may be right, but my father wished for peace with the Duscar as well. And I intend to fulfill that.” Dimitri explains. The General doesn’t seem to even hear him.

“We will not relent. Not until we’ve taken back the homeland you monsters stole from us!”

“I also share the sentiment.”

“Says a dog of Faerghus.”

“Faerghus will change under His Highness’ rule. I will continue to believe that.” Dedue ends with.

“The Vanguard will not attack if you leave. We spared as many of your people as we could, please do not waste that,” Dimitri continues. The General seems to still not be acknowledging Dimitri’s presence, but as he leaves, he says something, directed at Dimitri.

“Remember this one thing. The people of Duscar never forget their grudges. Nor do they fail to honour favours.” The General leaves with the other Duscar rebels.

Claude joins Dimitri and Dedue, looking in the direction of the retreated Duscar with a shrug. “Well, all’s well that ends well?”

“I suppose. But, thank you Claude for aiding in this… mess,” Dimitri replies with.

“Not a problem. We’ll pretend I wasn’t trying to see how you lead in battle.” Claude says with a laugh, before walking off. Dimitri just shakes his head.

“He says that like I didn’t get to see his leadership capabilities myself,” Dimitri says, and returns to the rest of the students.

  
  


Count Kleiman allows the academy students to stay at his estate, thanking them for dealing with the rebels. Dimitri is the very model of a Crown Prince, speaking of how it is his duty to aid the people of Faerghus. However, when Kleiman implies he wished more of the Duscar rebels had been killed in the incident, the glass in Dimitri’s hand shatters before Kleiman can finish speaking. Dimitri, of course, apologizes for it, but at the same time, the look on Dimitri’s face keeps the Count from mentioning the Duscar again.

The trip back to the monastery is much longer than the trip to Duscar, with the urgency no longer there. Aschere does not let the students get out of their lessons, however, and continues battle training and lectures. It takes about a week to finally return to the monastery, and Aschere almost immediately get an earful from Byleth about him having to do tactics lectures in her stead.

“Warn me next time you decide to be gone for nearly two weeks, I had no idea what to do with the lectures.” Byleth just sighs, and Aschere had to cover her mouth as she feels a laugh coming on. Byleth just shakes his head. “Doesn’t help that Jeritza has been missing even more than usual.”

“Oh?” Byleth nods.

“He’s been disappearing every other day. It’s bad enough where Seteth might take ‘disciplinary action’ on him.” Byleth just shakes his head more. “And then there are the weird rumours of a grim reaper wandering in the villages nearby. There have been scared villagers coming to the monastery everyday demanding the Knights do something about it.”

“A grim reaper?”

Byleth shrugs. “I don’t know. That’s what the villagers have been saying.”

Aschere bids her brother goodbye at this point, as she is exhausted from the travelling. She will give her report to Rhea tomorrow.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flayn goes missing

“I am glad that the uprising could be put down with minimal bloodshed,” Rhea says in response to Aschere’s report about the actions in Duscar.

“Yes, Prince Dimitri is very pleased that we could stop it in the way we did.”

“It is still a mystery that the Duscar would have cut down King Lambert during talks of peace. I recall hearing that thing had been going smoothly until the incident.” Rhea says. Hearing that, Aschere finds it odd as well. If King Lambert had been trying to find peace with the Duscar, why would they have killed him? It would be obvious that the Kingdom would retaliate against that.

Aschere doesn’t get to think about it longer, as Seteth enters the room suddenly.

“Rhe—Archbishop!” Seteth says as soon as he enters the room.

“Seteth, what troubles you?” Rhea asks.

“Flayn is missing! I cannot find her anywhere!” Seteth replies, before turning to Aschere. “Aschere, have you seen Flayn recently?”

Aschere shakes her head. “I went to bed almost immediately after returning to the monastery yesterday. Have you asked Byleth?”

“Yes, I have asked Byleth! He has not seen her in several days. I have searched everywhere I could in the monastery! Where could she be?” Seteth is shouting and is nearly inconsolable. “She may be in danger! Oh no… No, no! What am I to do?”

“Calm yourself, Seteth. Aschere, we shall continue our discussion another time.”

Aschere nods to Rhea and makes her way to the Blue Lion’s classroom to inform her students of this situation.

  
  


“Flayn has disappeared? Seteth must be beside himself.” Dimitri says in response to what Aschere has told them.

“You would be correct in saying that,” Aschere replies with.

“So, you want us to help look for little Flayn? Leave it to me, Professor. Chasing after girls is my specialty.” Sylvain says with a wink.

“Sylvain! Even you must agree that now isn’t the time for jokes.” Ingrid scolds.

“I hope Flayn is okay. I’ve heard of rumours about some Death Knight running around town…” Annette says uneasily.

“Death Knight?” Dimitri asks Annette, clearly having not heard of the rumours. Understandable, as they had not been in Garreg Mach for nearly half the month.

“Sounds intriguing. Maybe this Death Knight would be worthy opponent to cross blades with.” Felix says, not hearing the question in Dimitri’s words.

“Felix! Please consider how Seteth must be feeling right now.” Ingrid scolds Felix as well.

“Professor… you don’t think this Death Knight could be the same one we faced in the Holy Mausoleum, do you?” Dimitri asks. Ashe’s eyes widen at Dimitri’s question.

“I hope not! The only reason the Professor was able to get that guy to leave was because she used the Sword of the Creator. And he didn’t particularly look injured.

“Well, we can only hope that these are not the same person…”

“Oh? You met a Death Knight in the Holy Mausoleum? How cruel of you, Your Highness, seeing a ghost and not telling me,” Mercedes says with a pout.

“Mercedes! It wasn’t a ghost! The professor was able to fight him!” Ashe yells back, denying the possibility that there could be a ghost.

“Well… you just said the Professor had to use the Sword of the Creator to fight him, right? Maybe Relics can fight ghosts!” Mercedes says back cheerfully.

“Uhmm… that’s enough Mercie. We should start trying to find Flayn, right?” Annette attempts to change the subject.

“Oh yes. Maybe we’ll run into the Death Knight in the process!”

“Mercie!”

  
  


The news that Flayn has gone missing spreads through the monastery, and now all the of Academy students are aiding in attempting to find her. Although, they only information they really have to go on is that Flayn has mostly likely not left Garreg Mach. That still leaves the entire monastery complex as well as the nearby village. The Knights are taking care of searching the village, as they have already been tasked with looking for this “Death Knight” that the villagers have been spooked by.

“_One small girl gone astray, and look at the chaos brought the monastery. Well? Get to it! We must find out where she has gone!” __**Yes, I know.**_

Everyone has been tasked with also looking for “suspicious persons” within the monastery as well.

“And of course, Jeritza is nowhere to be found as well,” Byleth comments as the siblings search around the monastery.

“When was the last time you saw him?” Aschere asks. While Jeritza disappearing is certainly not out of the ordinary, he is usually never gone for longer than a day at a time.

“Sometime last week.”

Aschere pauses to think for a moment. “You don’t think he’s been kidnapped too?”

Byleth lets out a bark of a laugh. “I’d like to see the kidnapper that does. Jeritza may be aloof, but he’s no pushover.”

“I suppose you’re right. But, if the Death Knight is involved…”

This leave both the siblings thinking if Jeritza is somehow involved in this.

Other students give their input into what could have happened. A few think she is trying to get away from Seteth’s coddling. Aschere can only thing that, yes, while Seteth is a bit overbearing over his sister, Flayn never seemed like the type who would run away without saying a word.

One thing of interesting note found out by Leonie, Tomas had apparently been asking about Flayn for a while. As well as about Jeralt and both Aschere and Byleth. Something to keep in mind.

When Aschere and Byleth get around to asking Seteth why anyone would take Flayn, he reluctantly explains that Flayn has very special blood. He doesn’t elaborate further, only that it has to do with her Crest. That her disappearance would involve her Crest makes both Eisner siblings think of Hanneman.

Hanneman is, of course, offended that they would suspect him. While he would love to study Flayn’s Crest, he had no intention of doing so behind Seteth’s back. As well, while the Crest of Cethleann is rare, there are others who possess it.

The search of the monastery feels like wild goose chase, any by the time Aschere can get around to looking for Tomas, it’s already quite late. Going to the library, where he is most likely to be, she finds Dimitri looking over a shelf. She calls out to him, which startles him, and he quickly puts back the book he was looking at.

“Professor! Forgive me, I was looking something up, and did not hear you nearing.”

“It’s quite late, you should be resting right now.”

“I could say the same of you, but I suppose its not my place to tell my teacher to go to bed.”

“I was just looking for Tomas. Leonie mentioned something about him being very interested in Flayn… and my family.”

“Oh? Well, I have not seen Tomas recently, but I had only been in the library for a short amount of time. Now, I suppose I will head to bed as you told me to. Good night, Professor,” Dimitri says with a bow before leaving.

“_Hmm… I wonder what he was looking at that would startle him so much. And that he put the book back immediately. Suspicious!” __**Is it?**__ “Yes! Look! That book there is askew. It must have been the one he was looking at. See what it is!”_ Sothis commands. Aschere sighs and does so. One of the pages is creased, seemingly with grip marks… most likely the page he was looking at. The book seems to be on Church donations.

“_Why would the Prince be looking at this? Hmm… this page is on a Lord Arundel. Seems this Lord donated quite a bit to the Church… before ending in 1174. Perhaps he died or fell into financial ruin. The question is… why would Dimitri be looking at this?” __**I don’t know. But, he’s to be a king someday, so I guess there are a lot of things he has to study? **__“I don’t know if that is the reason…”_

At any rate, Aschere doesn’t find Tomas that evening, and retires still worried about what could have happened to Flayn.

  
  


Seteth, of course, continues to be beside himself in worry the next day. Aschere manages to find Tomas, to inquire about what Leonie said the other day, but it leads nowhere. Tomas interest in Flayn is because of how recently Flayn came to the monastery. He hadn’t known Seteth had a sister, as he had never mentioned her before she came. Interesting. As for why is interested in Jeralt and his children… Jeralt had not aged at all in the twenty years since he had disappeared, and reappears with not one, but two children. How curious.

However, later the day, Aschere finds Byleth talking with their father. As she approaches, both turn to her, with Byleth being the first to speak.

“You seen Manuela?”

Aschere shakes her head. “No. Is something the matter?”

“I saw her going somewhere in a hurry earlier,” Jeralt explains. “She looked like she was holding a mask.”

“A mask?”

“And Jeritza is still nowhere to be found…” Byleth continues with. Both siblings look at each other, knowing what the other is thinking. “Guess it’s time to pay his quarters a visit.”

“Should I get some of the others?” Aschere asks. “If Jeritza is the Death Knight, he will not go down easily.”

Byleth nods, and Aschere goes to gather as many students as she can in a few minutes. She finds Dimitri and Dedue easily enough, and they follow. Dorothea had been looking for Manuela as well, so she agrees to come as well. Mercedes wishes to go, as she is still hoping the Death Knight is a ghost. Leonie overhears them and wishes to go as well. Aschere thinks Leonie is slightly more excited than she should be at confronting a kidnapper, but she tends to be like that when interacting with Aschere’s family. Marianne is nearby, and Leonie basically grabs her to come along. While normally Marianne would be reluctant, she is still worried about Flayn, so she does agree to come.

On the way to meet up with Byleth and Jeralt, Caspar runs up to the group, saying he wants to help take down the Death Knight as well. Aschere says he can if he promises not to recklessly challenge him again. He reluctantly agrees.

The group meets up with Byleth and Jeralt, with Catherine and Shamir also with them. There had been a report from a villager of seeing the supposed Death Knight near the monastery last night. Before they can even make it to Jeritza’s quarters, a scream comes from them. Rushing to it, the find Manuela passed out on the floor. Mercedes, Marianne, and Aschere quickly go to her to check for injuries and heal her, and as Aschere looks up, she sees that one bookshelf has been pushed aside. Dedue pushes it further, and it reveals what seems to be a tunnel with stairs leading down.

“So… this must be one of those secret passages Edelgard mentioned… I guess they are real,” Byleth comments. Dimitri offers to take Manuela back to the infirmary now that she has been stabilized, and Jeralt goes with him to also report the incident to Rhea. “Well… we gonna go down there?”

“Are you sure we should?” Leonie asks, before speaking again. “Well, I guess with you two here,” she looks at Aschere and Byleth. “As well as Catherine and Shamir, it should probably be fine.”

“Well, I’m not about to let some dastardly man that attacked Manuela get away with his crimes,” Dorothea declares, and goes down the tunnel. Byleth sighs, and the group follows. Before the reach the end of the stairs, they hear Dorothea scream.

Byleth and Aschere rush ahead to see what caused Dorothea to scream and find her looking in the distance at two people collapsed on the floor. One of them is very recognizable.

“Flayn!” Aschere calls out. She doesn’t respond, nor does the other with red hair. “Is she…”

“No, she’s alive,” Byleth says. Aschere nods. However, the two collapsed persons are not alone. Through the windows in the wall, they can see that the Death Knight is indeed there. As well as more soldiers. How on earth did they get here?

Byleth runs ahead, weaving around the mysterious soldiers within the halls of these ancient passages, leaving them to Aschere to deal with.

“Never would have pegged Byleth to be that reckless,” Shamir comments before shooting down a soldier. The students follow Aschere through the halls, trying to catch up to Byleth.

“Oh, he tends to be very focused in battle,” Aschere as she runs through the halls. The space is laid out like a maze, making it hard to follow if not for the sounds of soldiers being killed as Byleth runs through. There is a reason he was called a “demon” among other mercenaries. The sounds lead Aschere and those following her to a much more open room, where Byleth is staring down the Death Knight, who stands between them and Flayn.

“You know, you pissed me off constantly for the last few months, but I never thought you’d be kidnapping little girls,” Aschere hears Byleth saying to the Death Knight.

“I don’t particularly care about the girl, I am just doing as I am ordered,” the Knight replies with.

“Oh, so someone else wants Flayn. Good to know.” Byleth shoulders his axe. “But, I can’t very well let you take Flayn, Seteth would never forgive me, now would he?” Byleth charges forward.

The Death Knight parries Byleth’s axe, although there is a struggle to it.

“You aren’t the prey I’m after,” the Knight responds with before twisting his scythe to get Byleth’s weapon away from him, and then attempting to swipe upward again at Byleth. Byleth dodges, but before he can attack back, the Knight is dashing forward, towards Aschere.

“Oh no you don’t, you bastard,” Byleth yells back, chasing after. Aschere is forces to parry an initial blow from the Death Knight, but the Knight is pushed back by Byleth attacking again. Now the siblings are together and standing between the exit and the Death Knight. Aschere doesn’t want this guy anywhere near the students. Shamir and Catherine are the first of the others to catch up to them, with the students close behind.

“More meddlers of my fun,” the Knight replies with, and again goes for Aschere. However, the Knight had to contend with Byleth, Shamir, and Catherine all attacking him as well, which lets Aschere fall back slightly to remain between the students and the Knight.

“We need to get to Flayn and the other girl, and get them out of here,” Aschere says quietly to the students. “If they are safe, then we don’t have to worry about anything the Death Knight might do while fighting him.”

Aschere’s plan involves her staying between herself and the students, with Dedue, Leonie, and Caspar near her as they circle around, acting as a wall between the Knight and Dorothea, Mercedes, and Marianne. As soon as they have a clear path, the mages are to get to the girls to check on them. However, at that point it gets harder as they will have to get back to the exit with the girls. It is to that Dorothea has a plan. They know the back wall is a clear path between the exit of the underground path, and with the number of small windows within it, it is likely not load bearing. Dorothea had recently learned a new spell from Hanneman that is strong enough to break through a wall. However, the spell is slow, so she will need cover.

Well, it’s a better plan than trying to circle around again, so Aschere decides to go through with it.

Aschere guessed right that the Death Knight would be far more interested in her than the students, and with there being three other people attacking him, the Knight is far easier to dodge than in the first encounter. The fact that he can take on all four of them at once, however, is a bad sign. Aschere and Catherine can cut swaths between them and the Knight with their relics, and it serves to help keep the distance, and Byleth lunges in every chance he gets.

After several minutes of this dance, the students are finally in a clear line between them and Flayn, and Mercedes and Marianne run for the girls. Either the Death Knight doesn’t notice or doesn’t care. He does, however, notice when Dedue and Leonie go to pick up the girls, and when Dorothea starts casting her spell. Dorothea did not exaggerate on the spell being slow, with the glyphs slowly being drawn with her fingers.

The Death Knight breaks from his attackers and makes for Dorothea. Aschere runs to be between the Knight and her student, looking like the night she saved Edelgard.

“_You idiot!”_ rings out in her head before Aschere forces up a half barrier. It shatters under the swipe of the scythe but takes much of the energy out of the blow, and thus the blade doesn’t fully embed itself into her shoulder. Aschere being attacked causes Dorothea’s spell to be interrupted, and it is clear both Mercedes and Marianne want to run to aid their teacher.

“Aschere!” Mercedes screams out, and Aschere can feel the Knight pull back slightly. How odd. The Knight finally withdraws the scythe, seemingly ready to swipe at her again. Aschere tries to hold up her sword to be able to parry another blow, but the pain in her shoulder makes it difficult. She isn’t sure she has the energy to put up another barrier.

There is a flash of light, and another is suddenly in the room. Aschere has never seen them before, a strange figure covered in red armour.

“Halt. You’re having a bit too much fun,” the mysterious person says.

“You are getting in the way of my game,” the Knight replies.

“Hmph,” the person makes in annoyance, “You’ll have more opportunities to play soon. Your work here is done.” The person says next.

The Knight seems confused, but reluctantly steps back. “Understood. I will go…” The Knight replies with before vanishing in a flash of light again. The mysterious person turns to the group of people.

“We will cross paths again. I am the Flame Emperor… It is I who will reforge the world,” and the person vanishes as well.

There is a long pause before Mercedes speaks up, “Well, both the Death Knight and the Flame Emperor seem like very dangerous people.” She then begins tending to the wound on Aschere’s shoulder.

“Are you okay, professor?” Marianne asks as she does the same. Aschere nods.

“I’m fine, I’ve had worse injuries before,” Aschere replies with, thinking about how her wounds have always healed without issue. Never leaving a scar on her body. Dorothea seems to be in slight shock from nearly getting the blow from the Death Knight as well, before running up to where Aschere is being healed.

“Oh, Professor, I’m… I’m so… you… you saved me.” Aschere nods.

“Of course, I did. Perhaps recklessly,” Aschere winces as the flesh of her shoulder knits back together. “Not the best example for Caspar, now am I?”

Capsar just laughs at that.

Dedue picks up Flayn, and Leonie puts the red-haired girl on her back to carry them out of the maze. Byleth goes to his sister’s side once she is finished being healed. Aschere has no idea how to read his face.

“Nice going.”

“Quiet, you,” Aschere responds with, lightly hitting her brother on the arm.

“So… Flame Emperor… I assume they are the one who wanted Flayn, then?”

“Maybe?”

“Then why did they give her up?” Aschere just shrugs at Byleth. She has no idea. “But who is that other girl?”

“No idea. She has a uniform, but we’ve never seen her before…” Many things for the siblings to think about. For the time being, it would be best if everyone gets out from the underground. Catherine and Shamir go to report the incident to the rest of the Knights and are going to comb through the tunnels to make sure there are no more mysterious soldiers in the underground space. As Aschere and the students are exiting the underground, Mercedes speaks up again.

“The Death Knight… he was Jeritza, right?”

“Seems like it,” Byleth responds with. The look on Mercedes’ face is confusing to Aschere, like she is thinking about something.

“There is something about Jeritza that feels… familiar… I wonder what it could be…” But that question is put on hold when Dimitri runs into Jeritza’s empty room.

“You found Flayn?! Thank goodness!” Dimitri says as he sees Dedue holding the girl. He then sees Leonie carrying the other girl. “Who is this?”

“No idea,” Byleth replies with. “She was with Flayn.”

“The Death Knight was also in the tunnels,” Dedue answer. “However, before they could be detained, they disappeared much the same way they did during the Rite of Rebirth.”

“Detained? Yeah right, the guy was giving two Knights and both our professors the run around!” Caspar yells in response. “If that Flame Emperor guy hadn’t showed up, who knows what would have happened to Aschere!”

Dorothea proceeds to hug Aschere dramatically. “Yes, it would not do to have my saviour killed like that! She was so brave, protecting me from that brute.” Aschere is unsure how to react to Dorothea, and just pats her arm. She watches as Dimitri’s face turns to shock and then horror at the Black Eagle students’ words.

“Are you all right, Professor?” He asks immediately, moving closer, as if checking for injury on her.

“I’m fine. Marianne and Mercedes healed my shoulder good as new.”

Mercedes smiles in response, before Marianne replies, “Y-yes, Aschere healed very well. Her body responds to White Magic very well.”

Aschere moves out of Dorothea’s grip, and moves her coat slightly off her shoulder to show.

“See, no scar.”

Dimitri continues to stare, before seemingly snapping out of his trance, and responding. “I-If you say so, Professor. You must tell me more of what transpired, but I believe these two girls should be taken to the infirmary.” Dedue nods, and moves to take Flayn to the infirmary, with Leonie following close behind. Mercedes and Marianne follow, as to help in the infirmary as Manuela is still out of commission, and Caspar runs off soon after.

Aschere turns to Dimitri, who looks as if he is out of breath.

“I’m sorry, Professor. I’m so relieved that Flayn is all right, and that you are as well… I suddenly felt weak.” Dimitri says after a moment, which gets a raised eyebrow from Byleth. “I imagine Seteth will also be overjoyed that Flayn is safe.”

Aschere feels herself almost laughing at how earnest Dimitri is in his relief, she cannot help but smile. She hopes her smile helps reassure him that she is fine, considering how worried he seemed. Dimitri, however, only stares again for a moment, again almost in a trance, which causes Aschere’s smile to fade. That seems to snap Dimitri out of it.

“P-Professor… Can you make that expression one more time?” Dimitri’s question makes Aschere tilt her head in question, which Byleth also mimics, and the confusion is plain on Dorothea’s face, who is still standing near Aschere. While Aschere is unsure, she tries to smile again, as Dimitri asked. It’s probably not much of a reassuring smile now, but Dimitri stares again all the same. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen your face like that…”

Dorothea has to stifle her laugh, which seems to snap Dimitri out of his staring again.

“I apologize. I’ve forgotten myself and come dangerously close to teasing you. It’s just… I’ve never seen you look so happy before. It’s downright mesmerizing.”

At Dimitri’s words, Aschere feels her stomach lurch, like it’s trying to escape. The smile on his face as he says these things only makes the feeling worse. From the corner of her eye, she can see Byleth moves closer to Aschere. Dorothea lets out a laugh.

“Your Highness! You can’t just say that to a young woman! You’ll give her the wrong impression,” Dorothea says to Dimitri, her amusement clear in her voice. The smile leaves Dimitri’s face quickly.

“Wha- I-I do not know what impression you got from my words, but I was being sincere.”

“Oh, I’m sure you are,” Dorothea says back with a grin. Dimitri’s face flushes at that.

“W-Well, I’m sure Seteth will want to know that Flayn is safe,” Dimitri exclaims before quickly leaving the room. Dorothea can’t stop laughing, even as she leaves the room as well. Aschere turns to Byleth, who looks annoyed.

“Is something the matter?” Aschere asks.

“Hmm? No, it’s nothing. Well, other than; for a Prince, Dimitri doesn’t seem to know how to hold his tongue.” Byleth just shakes his head as he leaves as well, and Aschere follows, still confused as to Dimitri’s words to her.

“_Well, well. Dimitri’s quite sincere, isn’t he?” __**I… I suppose. **__“Oh? Do you like the Prince’s attention?” __**I… I don’t know. It makes me feel strange.**_

Sothis says nothing more, but it feels as if Aschere is being laughed at.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, I am alive. I got stuck on a chapter for a long time, and I'm stubborn and didn't want to post any of my reserve chapters until I got through it. Well, I got through it. Enjoy this.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aschere still doesn't understand emotions, and then goes to Zanado again

Aschere and Byleth speak with Seteth later in the day, who profusely thanks them for saving Flayn. Both attempt to shrug off his praise. However, it is nice to know that Seteth now, finally, trusts them.

“Well, we can assume that the Death Knight and Jeritza are one in the same. Byleth, I hope you are all right with taking over Jeritza’s position,” Seteth says. Byleth just shrugs.

“I was basically doing his job already, so it doesn’t make much of a difference to me.”

“As well, the motives of this ‘Flame Emperor’ remain unknown. That they could possibly know of Flayn’s blood is concerning. The only option, if such a thing is true, is to leave the monastery and go into hiding…” Seteth trails off, and the siblings only look at each other. However, the door to Seteth’s office opens, and Flayn quickly walks through.

“Flayn?! What are you doing here? You should be resting!”

“Brother, I do not like the path of your thoughts. I do not wish to live in some lonely, remote location where I never get to see anyone. Not ever again.” Again?

“If we stay here, you may be targeted again! Wouldn’t it be better for the two of us to live in peace?”

“Even if we ran off to some new, secret location, there is no guarantee that they would not find us. Which is why I believe it would be safest to stay in the monastery, where we are surrounded by capable knights and professors.” At her last word, Flayn looks at both Aschere and Byleth.

“I see your point, I do. I just…” Seteth trails off.

“What if I were to join Aschere’s class? Then you will know that I am safe even when you are busy, brother.”

“I would not impose that on Aschere-“

“I don’t mind,” Aschere replies with. Flayn smiles brightly at that. Seteth sighs.

“If Aschere is all right with it, then I suppose it would be for the best. I am counting on you, however. To keep Flayn safe. I would prefer if you kept her out of missions…”

“Brother!”

“But, if she is to join your class, then it will be of her obligation as well. Please try to stay out of the fray, Flayn,” Seteth finishes with.

“I will. I have always been better as a healer,” Flayn replies with a nod.

  
  


Aschere and Byleth find out the other girl, Monica. She had been a student at the academy the year before but had disappeared. The Knights had searched all over for her, but to no avail. Bizarre, that she would show up so suddenly now. And as to why she would have been taken. The girl apparently wishes to rejoin the Black Eagles house once she has recovered. Are her parents not worried about her? Aschere has no idea what is happening.

But, she has little time to ponder these things. The Battle of the Eagle and Lion is coming up shortly, and she and Byleth have their hands full making sure the students are ready. Which results in extra training sessions, and more tactics lectures for the house leaders. Aschere is caught off guard by Dimitri approaching her after one of the lectures.

“Professor, I have been meaning to speak to you for a few days now, but there hasn’t been much for free moments.” Aschere nods, everyone has been quite busy. “I wish to apologize for what I said after Flayn was rescued.” Aschere tilts her head at that. “I had no intention of making you uncomfortable with my words, and I fear I said things that could be taken… inappropriately.” Dimitri’s eyes glance to the side at that.

Aschere shakes her head. “No, no, I did not mind your words. Your sincerity is something I admire about you.” She can see Dimitri’s eyes widen at that. “And… I’ve never had someone say something like that to me. I suppose I have never smiled much in my life before coming here, but knowing that someone likes my smile makes me want to smile more.” Aschere says, smiling to emphasis her words. She didn’t think it possible for Dimitri’s eye to widen more, but they do. He quickly bows to her and excuses himself.

She can hear Sothis laughing in her head.

  
  


Aschere and Byleth are going over training schedules during their meal time, when the mysterious Monica comes up to the siblings.

“Hello, Professors!” Monica says cheerfully. Both look towards her, Byleth with a raised eyebrow. “I wanted to thank you for saving me!”

“Oh… uhm… you’re welcome. Though, we hadn’t known you were there.” Aschere says bluntly, while Byleth says nothing.

“Oh, of course, of course. A shame you aren’t in charge of the Black Eagles, Professor Aschere,” Monica says with a giggle. “I would _love_ to see more of you,” Monica says with a smile, before spotting Edelgard. “Well, bye bye, Professors! Edel!” And she runs off to Edelgard.

Both siblings sit in silence for a moment.

“She is…”

“…odd. Somehow odder than you,” Byleth says with a smirk to his sister. She pouts. “She is also hard for me to read.”

“Really?” Aschere says, tilting her head. Byleth just nods, before going back to eating.

Jeralt joins them after a bit, to join them for lunch, and to inform them that he will not present for the Battle of the Eagle and Lion.

“After the both the incident with the Rite of Rebirth, and with Jeritza turning out to be that Death Knight guy, the Knights have been overworked with trying to track down the ones behind all this,” Jeralt explains with a sigh. Neither of the siblings have seen much of their father even before the kidnapping, and this just means there will be even less of him. “There have been reports of suspicious people around the monastery, not to mention reports of Demonic Beasts attacking villages. And Knights sent out to investigate have been turning up dead.”

“Don’t go dying on us, old man,” Byleth says between bites.

“I don’t plan on dying anytime soon, By, but…”

“’But’?” Aschere says back.

“You can’t always plan things, now can you?”

“I guess not…” Aschere says, frowning. The thought of losing her father does not sit well with her.

“If anything happens to me, search through my office. Check everywhere.”

“All right…” Byleth says, his expression suspicious of his father. Aschere wishes the two of them would just say what they are feeling, but that’s not how her family works. Her included.

  
  


Apparently, what Dimitri had said to Aschere after finding Flayn had become widespread knowledge, as Aschere encountered Sylvain teasing Dimitri about it.

“_Hey, hey,”_ Sothis says within Aschere’s mind, before she walks forward, making her presence known. _“Just wait a bit.” __**Why? **__“Just listen to them. It might be interesting.”_ Aschere sighs internally, but still does what Sothis suggests. She can’t help but be a bit curious.

“I can’t believe you would just _say_ something like that, Your Highness,” Sylvain says with a laugh.

“Sylvain! I have told you several times already, I was not flirting with the Professor. Will you drop this already?”

“Not a chance. I also overheard from a waitress at the tavern in Garreg about an Academy student in blue accompanied by woman in patterned tights. Hmmm… I wonder who they could have been…”

“I was thanking her for her help!” Dimitri’s voice sounds strained at this point.

Sylvain nods, but the look on his face says he doesn’t believe Dimitri. “Right, right. You realize you’re not fooling anyone? Don’t think I don’t notice how you look at Aschere during class. Not that I blame you, I mean, she is gorgeous. Its amazing how fluidly she moves considering how big her br-“

“Sylvain!” Dimitri yells, grabbing Sylvain’s wrist. A bit too hard, it seems, as Sylvain winces in pain. Dimitri quickly lets go.

“Man, you didn’t have to nearly break my wrist…” Sylvain says while rubbing it. “Hope you’ve been working extra hard on winning the Battle of the Eagle and Lion.” Dimitri gives Sylvain a questioning look, to which Sylvain just laughs. “Cuz I’m sure if we win, you’ll get extra praise from Aschere.”

Dimitri nearly freezes, but he says nothing in return. Sylvain puts his arm around Dimitri’s shoulder, saying he’ll help Dimitri with studying battle tactics, and the two leave the area, never noticing Aschere was nearby.

_ **Dimitri likes being praised? ** _ _“From Sylvain’s words, it seems like it. Or perhaps, he only likes being praised by you.” _ _ **Why me? ** _ _“Because he is fond of you, of course.” _ _ **Oh…** _

Dimitri is fond of her? The idea is pleasant to her. She enjoys speaking to Dimitri, and fact that he likes her smile makes her chest feel warm. She supposes she is also fond of Dimitri, but it is different than the fondness she has for the other students, or even for Byleth or her father. She still doesn’t know what to make of this feeling, and Sothis refuses to explain.

“_You need to learn these things on your own,”_ is what Sothis had said to her. That didn’t make it any less frustrating for her.

  
  


Aschere thinks about how her emotions have developed since coming to Garreg Mach. Thinking carefully, there are two incidents that caused her emotions to develop. One was obtaining the Sword of the Creator. But the first had been at Zanado. Even if the emotion had been rage…

“_You want to go back to Zanado?” __**I want to know why I reacted like I did there. Don’t you?**_ Sothis is quiet for a bit, but finally responds. _“Yes.” __**Zanado isn’t too far from the monastery, so we can make a short trip. And no one is supposed to be there, so… **__“Does that not include yourself?” _Aschere doesn’t have an answer for that. She is aware she could end up in a lot of trouble for returning there without permission, but… she wants to understand what is going on with her. She is also aware that Rhea seems lenient towards her. She has no idea why.

Aschere borrows a horse from the stables to make her trip faster, as by horse, Zanado is a little over an hour away. Zanado is very different to her than it was the first time. Being the only person there, there is an eerie calm to it, that falls somewhere between peaceful and disturbing. Sothis manifests next to her as they walk through the ruins.

“So, do you wish to find the spot where you had your outburst last time?” Sothis asks.

“That might be a good place to start,” Aschere replies with, trying to remember where it was. It takes a bit, but she eventually finds the pathway she had found the first-time round, and the building where the bandits had been hiding.

Aschere is unsure as to what this building was originally. There seems to be a platform of some sort within it, and it feels as if something had been there before.

“Does this feel familiar to you, Sothis?” Aschere watches Sothis floating near the platform, looking over it, and thinking.

“Maybe? I am not sure.” Sothis groans in frustration. “Why can’t I remember? It feels as if it’s right here, but I cannot see it!”

Aschere thinks further and decides to sit on the platform.

“What are you doing?” Sothis asks.

“Maybe sitting here will bring something up.” Aschere responds with. Sothis shrugs, and floats near Aschere. Aschere sits cross-legged, looking forward over the room. It feels familiar, but with how broken the building is… it feels off. She closes her eyes, trying to think of the building in one piece. It’s surprisingly easier than she thought it would be.

Sitting here feels familiar. But, not on the altar. It was on a chair. Or a throne? This place was important.

“People came here to speak to me,” Sothis says. Aschere opens her eyes, looking at her. “I would sit here, and people would talk to me and I would listen. But why is that?”

“Were you some sort of ruler? In the past?”

“I… I don’t know. Maybe. I think I was of importance. I think… what I would like to know more is why you feel as if you remember this place as well. Even if this is a true memory, and I was some sort of important person, or ruler; look around you. The buildings are ancient. It would have been in the distant past. Why is it that we are connected, and why is it that you get the feeling of familiarity as well?”

That is certainly not something Aschere has an answer to. And she does not know who might know. Her father never understood when she would mention Sothis from her dreams, even if that was from before Sothis woke up. So, she doubts that he knows why Sothis resides within her.

“The only thing I can think of is asking Rhea about you. As she seems to know a lot about Zanado. I suppose that makes sense, as she is the Archbishop. And none of the books about the Church of Seiros in the library mentioned much of Zanado itself, other than the Goddess once lived here.”

Aschere had done what Rhea and Seteth said about learning more about the Church. She’s read as much as she can, but at the same time she feels like parts are missing. Although, she has no reason to believe that.

“I would prefer if Rhea didn’t know of my existence, thank you very much,” Sothis says in response. “I do not know why, but I feel as if I should keep my presence secret from her.”

“You don’t trust her?”

“It’s not that… I cannot explain the feeling, I just do not wish her to know of me.”

“Very well.”

Aschere and Sothis explore more of Zanado, finding more places that give great feelings of nostalgia. There are even times where Aschere would mention a spot before Sothis would. Why is it that they seem to share memories? Who, or what, is Sothis? Aschere perhaps is more confused that she was beforehand and coming here has done nothing to explain why it made her emotional. Or anything to help her understand her own emotions.

They go back to the building with the altar, and Aschere decides she will sit there longer. Just… a little longer.

  
  


_When She first arrived, She was shunned by those who lived there. They called Her a monster. But She wished to live here. To be accepted by them. And so She changed. She became more like them. She learned of how they lived. She came to live with them._

_But She still felt different from them. She could see the children of those of the Land. And there were men of the Land who would aid Her in her wish. Her wish for Her own children._

_She favoured the strong. The brave. The kind. The clever. And She cherished her time with them. But her time is far longer than them. She watched many of her cherished return to the land over her time. But She had her children. Reminders of those She lived with. Of those She loved._

  
  


Aschere is awoken by being shaken, something she had not expected. Even more unexpected to her was waking up to see Dimitri be the one shaking her. Her body feels stiff from the place she had been sleeping, but she sits up, looking at Dimitri looking over her.

“Dimitri? What are you doing here?”

“What am I…? What are you doing here? It is incredibly reckless to have come to the Red Canyon by yourself without telling anyone! What if something had happened to you?”

Aschere can only stare at Dimitri, unsure of how to process the situation.

“How did you find me?”

“I had looked all over the monastery for you but could find you nowhere. Then Marianne mentioned seeing you leave the monastery, in the direction of the Red Canyon.”

“That sounds pretty vague,” Aschere comments back. “I could have easily gone somewhere else, and you wouldn’t have found me here.”

“That’s…” Dimitri frowns. “I guessed you might come back here after what happened during our first mission. It was only a hunch, but I am glad it proved right.”

“Your Highness, did you find the Professor?” Aschere can hear Dedue calling to Dimitri.

“Ah, yes, Dedue. She is here,” Dimitri calls back. Dedue joins Dimitri within the ruin where Aschere is still sitting. “Why did you decide to sleep here?”

Aschere stares for a moment, before thinking. She doesn’t remember falling asleep and says as much to Dimitri and Dedue.

“This place certainly causes strange reactions in you, Professor,” Dimitri comments as he helps Aschere up. “I cannot help but wonder why that is.”

“Well, that’s part of the reason I came back here,” Aschere admits. Which is what Dimitri had assumed.

“In Duscar, there were those who felt strong connections to the land,” Dedue comments. “Many were priests to our Gods.”

Dimitri thinks for a moment. “The Red Canyon is supposed to have been a home to the Goddess at one point. Could Aschere be feeling a connection to her?”

“It is possible. But, that would be more a question for the Archbishop,” Dedue replies with.

“Maybe you should ask Lady Rhea in regard to that, Professor.”

Aschere remembers how Sothis does not want Rhea to know of her presence, so while Dimitri’s suggestion makes sense, she thinks she will pass on that. She doesn’t say that to Dimitri however, and merely follows him back to where their horses are tied up to return to the monastery.

“I hope you do not get in trouble for coming here alone,” Aschere says as they walk.

“I didn’t come here alone, Dedue is here as well,” Dimitri replies with, and Aschere can’t help but laugh.

“That’s not what I meant. The Crown Prince of Faerghus coming here with just his retainer seems like something quite reckless,” Aschere explains. Dimitri looks at her with mild shock on his face, before Aschere can see his face flush and he rubs the back of his head.

“I was worried for you. It’s not like you to disappear without saying anything.”

Aschere tilts her head at Dimitri. “Is it?” She thinks about it and can remember several times from her childhood of wandering off because she saw something interesting. Her lack of emotion did tend to affect her sense of fear. “I think my father and Byleth would disagree with you.”

“Well, during your time at the monastery, you have been fairly rigid in routine, so please excuse me for assuming, then…” Dimitri gazes off, away from her. Can he not _just_ say that he was worried about her? She is quite aware he worries for the safety of all his classmates, so of course she would assume he would worry for her as well. Well, Aschere does not wish to push him further.

As they reach the horses, Aschere notices that they seem unsettled. The animals are trying to pull from their leads. It doesn’t take long to figure out why, as a loud roar rings though the valley, making Aschere, Dimitri, and Dedue cover their ears from the sound.

A large demonic beast approaches them, drool dripping from its mouth. It completely ignores the horses, and charges for Aschere. She raises her sword, ready to meet the beast head on. What she did not expect was Dimitri to stand between her and the beast. Spear raised, as the beast lunges at for Aschere, he stabs into the beast’s mouth. However, the beast cares not for its wound, and bites down at its attacker. It takes Dimitri’s arm, and a good portion of his torso with it. The sight of Dimitri dying in front of her sends her into a shock, only vaguely hearing Dedue yelling.

“_You idiot, what are you doing?!” _rings in her mind as the scene freezes in a shattering of colours. That snaps her out of it, and she forces the time backwards. Before Dimitri can step in front of her to meet the beast, she tries to get him out of the way, to stop him, but there isn’t enough time, and his strength prevents her from moving him quickly enough. She vaguely feels the beast bite into her before the scene shatters again, and freezes. _“Well, isn’t this a fine mess we’ve gotten into.” __**Why is there a demonic beast here? **__“I don’t know! But we must do something about it! Before you are too exhausted to keep your fool of a student from getting himself killed!”_

Aschere tries to force time back further, to before the beast appears, so she can be more ready for it, but her chest burns when trying to go back.

“_This power has a limit with your mortal body.”_ She is aware of that now. But she doesn’t have enough time with what she has to protect both Dimitri and herself. As she watches the colours shift around her as time stand still, she wishes she could just move herself now. Without anything else moving.

Wait.

Perhaps…

She had never tried to move while in this state. But she is willing to try.

Her entire body burns at the attempt, but she can see her arm move slightly. Every bit of her body protests the attempt, like as if the world were made of stone, and she must swim through it. But, she manages to lift her sword, and point it towards the beast.

“_Amazing. I am amazed you are even still conscious. Your body is quite strained.”_ She can’t even try to respond to Sothis, her mind is focused on her task. She lets time flow once more, as the world begins to move again, as the beast begins it’s charge once more, as Dimitri moves to stand between the beast and his professor, Aschere extends the Sword of the Creator forward immediately. As the beast lunges, the Sword of the Creator fires thought the beast’s mouth, and up through its head. The stone on it’s forehead cracks, and it sends the beast reeling backwards. As the beast roars in pain, it is open enough for Dedue to embed his axe into the beast’s head, breaking the stone fully, killing the beast. Dedue and Dimitri watch as the beast dissolves into nothing. Dimitri turns, seemingly to ask Aschere something, but he is stopped as Aschere doubles over.

The act of moving while time stood still was a burden on her body. Her body protests existence as far as Aschere can feel, and she falls to the ground, trying to hold herself up off the ground with her arms. Her body reacts violently, rejecting the contents of her stomach, causing her to vomit bile. Now she can only cough, as her lungs protest the feeling of air in them.

“Professor!” Dimitri calls out, running to her side. He tries to hold her, to take her weight off her arms. Her entire body shakes at the feeling of him touching her, and he quickly takes his arm back, as if burned. Coughing again, her lungs finally take in air, and with a sharp inhale, she feels her arms give out. Dimitri, despite the last reaction, grabs at her again, to keep her from falling directly onto the ground. While she does shake at his touch, it is not as bad at the last attempt, and he keeps his hold on her. “What is happening to you?”

“Dimitri, what were you thinking?” Aschere coughs out, causing Dimitri to look at her in confusion.

“Professor?”

“Why were you going to jump in front of me?” Aschere asks, still coughing. Dimitri continues to look stunned, and Aschere can only guess its because she knew what he was going to do. She briefly wonders if she will have to explain what happened.

“What…? Why wouldn’t I try to protect you? The beast’s gaze was only on you!”

“And did you think you could parry the beast when it lunged at me?” She watches Dimitri’s eyes widen, and then his gaze avoids Aschere’s. “Please do not act so recklessly.” Aschere takes in another shaky breath. “I would be very upset if you were badly injured protecting me.”

She would prefer not to speak of him dying. She doesn’t want to think about it. Dimitri looks at Aschere again, still wordless, before simply nodding.

“I agree with the professor that you should not be so reckless, Your Highness.” Aschere nods at Dedue. “You need to remember the value of your life.”

“You speak as if my life is worth saving…” Dimitri says under his breath, only loud enough that Aschere can hear, still behind held up by his arms. She is not sure if he realized that she would be able to hear him.

“I think your life is quite precious,” Aschere whispers back, getting a reaction from Dimitri. He says nothing but she enjoys the shocked look on his face from the realization that she heard him. He seems embarrassed that he would be so careless, as his face flushes as well. Aschere almost wishes to laugh, but fears he would take it the wrong way, and holds it back. She simply smiles brightly instead.

  
  


Aschere is still weak, and rides with Dimitri on the way back. She enjoys how warm Dimitri is against her back, and in her exhaustion, falls asleep.

She meets Sothis in her dreams, in the ancient throne room.

“Well, you did quite the feat today.” Sothis says, looking somewhere between annoyed and amused.

“I didn’t even know if it would work. It seems there is a limit to how far I can turn back time… or rather how far you can turn back time?” Aschere tilts her head. “It is still your power, right?”

“The power comes from me, but it requires your body to channel it. If I did not inhabit you, I could affect nothing. But, if I did not inhabit you, you would not be able to use this power at all. This power requires both of us, so who does it truly belong to? As well, you did something that I didn’t even think was possible! So, it seems you are making this power your own.”

“I still wonder why it is you are inside of me.”

“As do I. Our little trip didn’t reveal much, and nearly ended in disaster, but you did come out stronger for it. Although, I would not suggest trying to move while time stands still again unless necessary. It wouldn’t do for you to exhaust yourself like that again.”

Aschere nods. That was the worst she has ever felt. But, she does not think she hurt herself beyond extreme exhaustion. At least… she hopes that.

In the back of her mind, she is vaguely aware of a dream she had while she fell asleep in Zanado.

“Do you remember the dream I had while we were in Zanado?”

“Dream… hmm… I think I remember it a bit…”

“I think it was about the Goddess?”

“That seems correct… but why would you have that kind of dream?”

“Maybe you were right before, and you lived in Zanado when the Goddess walked the lands?”

“Maybe… it was an interesting dream… I think. About the Goddess and her Children? And… lovers?”

Aschere nods. Although, the dream does feel bizarre to her. If only because it feels as if it was experienced from the point of view of the Goddess. But that can’t be right.

“Well, beyond possibly telling you something about the Goddess that not even the Church might know, I don’t know if it was very helpful.” Sothis says, before yawning. “But today was exhausting for me as well. It’s time for a nap.”

Aschere can feel herself fade from the throne room, while she continues to think about the dream. About the feelings the Goddess had, that for some reason she can feel. Lovers… is that what it feels like?

Why does it feel familiar?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> somehow I am still alive


End file.
